Ashoka University Graduate Leading Global Change through Innovation and Leadership

Ishan Pratap Singh, of the Undergraduate batch of 2024 from Ashoka University with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Economics and Finance and a concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Strategy, was invited as one of the AI Champions for Common Good at the SDG Lab in Davos, Switzerland, held alongside the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. He represented India at the SDG Lab, which was attended by many eminent figures from governments, corporations, multilateral organisations, and civil society.

Ishan was the youngest panelist and presenter at the SDG Lab. In the WEF Open Forum and along the Promenade, he interacted with notable personalities, including Mr. Richard Edelman while also participating in #IndiaAtDavos events and events hosted by CII.

Speaking on the experience, Ishan said, “At Ashoka and at Global Shapers, I was exposed to an interdisciplinary environment that made me highly focused on finding synergies between different silos. I headed six projects in the New Delhi Hub and continue to lead two of them, with one maturing into a non-profit organisation in its own right.”

Building on a theorem of Economics he studied during his undergraduate years, Ishan founded Cooperation17, a non-profit organisation focused on revolutionising decisionmaking and pursuing cooperation through the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). After writing about their mission in the Freiheitsindex Deutschland 2024 Freedom Index Germany 2024- he was invited by the SDG Lab to present on it.

“We are on a mission to ‘Make Trust and Peace Cool Again.’ We aim to shift the conversation from ‘You versus Me’ to ‘You and Me versus the problem’ using Artificial Intelligence and the methodology we are developing,” he explained.

Recalling his experience at Davos, he remarked, “With over 50 heads of state and governments joining the WEF Annual meeting and many events along the Promenade and in the entire city, Davos was not just where the global elite coalesced but where coalitions for changing the world—or rather, ‘Shaping the world,’ as the title suggests—can be created. My pitch was simple-: Don’t just say you want young people to speak—actually listen to them and support.”

Ishan expressed gratitude to his family, friends, and institutions that supported him. “I thank the SDG Lab Davos for this incredible opportunity, and my alma mater Ashoka University and DPS RK Puram for providing me with the education and tools as well as prompt support required to be able to launch something as crucial as this, at a time when the world needs it the most.”

In early 2024, Ishan was elected as the Curator of the Global Shapers New Delhi Hub, part of the World Economic Forum’s Under-30 network. At just 20 years old, he was among the youngest in the world to head a Global Shapers Hub.

–Ishan Pratap Singh is an alumnus of Ashoka University, Undergraduate 2024- Bachelor of Science with Honors in Economics and Finance with a Concentration in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Strategy. He is the Founder of Cooperation17, a non-profit organisation dedicated to building cooperation for the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), making trust and peace cool again. He is also a Curator of the New Delhi Global Shapers Hub, part of the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum.