About
Welcome to the Geneva PPP Research Centre! @PPPResCent
• a research-focused platform
• acting as a hub of Geneva-based research activities
• promoting the integration of PPP-knowledge, projects, and initiatives, while building on the resources and knowledge of the University of Geneva
Background:
Geneva is a focal point of international co-operation: About 35 International Organizations and more than 250 NGOs are located in Geneva, about 130 Multinational Companies have their headquarters in this city, and 170 foreign States are represented. While these organizations are all actively striving to solve, or at least closely concerned by the most striking societal problems faced by humanity, experience has shown that the complexity involved in these problems brings to light the limits of each sector’s capacities. Acknowledging that actors from the public, business, and civil-society sectors are interdependent in solving fundamental problems in society and in reaching their goals, public-private partnerships (PPPs) have thus become the “collaboration paradigm of the 21st century.”
These partnerships are supposed to create a collaborative advantage by combining sector-specific resources and expertise. However, they are not simple ventures. The benefits of the collaborative approach are often jeopardized by challenges stemming from a complex environment, differences in the partners’ interests and ways of working, and a lack of suitable partnership management know-how and skills. Yet, the development of respective knowledge and capacities remains difficult in an arena that is fragmented, with actors starting from scratch without building on existing best practices and lessons learned.
The uniqueness of the Geneva PPP Research Center:
The Geneva PPP Research Center takes into account the prominence of PPP approaches as well as the challenges involved in such endeavors. It seeks to serve as a hub and catalyst for PPP-related research projects and to provide a platform to share know-how for managing PPPs. This means that the Center builds on major PPP research activities of Geneva-based researchers and initiates further inter-disciplinary research projects. To countervail the current fragmentation of the PPP landscape, it provides an overview of the latest insights into PPP projects, educational programs, and research activities in Geneva. The Center allows creating a much needed link between education programs, the practice, and research. For example, Master and MBA programs benefit from the latest insights into PPP management and from an active exchange with professionals. On this basis, the Center seeks to bring together actors from the public, business, and civil society sectors for a constructive knowledge exchange and, additionally, develop close links with PPP catalyst such as the World Economic Forum. Thus, the Geneva PPP Research Center aims to make the most of its unique geographical position in a cluster of key actors in the PPP arena.