The Modern Anchor Institution

Join fellow leaders at Canadian institutions to address public apathy towards higher education and redefine universities as modern anchor organizations. ​This session will explore actionable strategies to align university priorities with external needs to foster social mobility, drive economic development, and advance impactful community-centric research.

Key topics include:

• Scaling research impact: Explore ways to focus on applied, interdisciplinary research that addresses regional and industry-specific challenges while leveraging private funding. ​
• Driving economic development: Understand how public-private anchor networks can tackle local issues such as housing, workforce shortages, and neighborhood revitalization.
• Communicating value: Gain insights into using dashboards and tailored impact reports to demonstrate ROI and community contributions effectively.

Attendees will leave this session with practical tools and frameworks to help institutions drive measurable outcomes, engage the public in conversations about institutional value and business models, and strengthen their role as indispensable community partners.

Session

Click the Register button to sign up.

Attendance is best suited for provosts, CBOs, chief strategy officers, VPs of strategy, and chief research officers. 

• Friday, September 19, 2025 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time