Prof. Bhaskar Chakravorti Tufts University, USA

Bhaskar Chakravorti is dean of global business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He is the founding executive director of Fletcher's Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC), with a mission to “connect the world of business with the world,” and chairs Digital Planet, a research program that... read morestudies the impact of digital technologies on lives and livelihoods across 125 countries. He launched a multi-year initiative since the COVID pandemic, Imagining a Digital Economy for All, IDEA 2030, which is investigating the role of digital innovations, artificial intelligence and their applications as a force for inclusive growth, development, and productivity. His research focuses on digital technologies, AI, and their geopolitical and development impact.

Chakravorti serves on the advisory boards of several organizations, including philanthropic foundations, such as the Hinrich Foundation, and academic institutions, such as the Indian Institute of Public Policy. He is a non-resident senior fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, and a consultant to the World Bank. Previously, he served as chairman of the advisory board of the Mastercard Policy Center for the Digital Economy, on the advisory board of the UNDP Center for Private Sector in Development, non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, member of the Global Future Council on Innovation at the World Economic Forum, and senior advisor to the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. A trusted commentator in the media and conferences on global business and technology, he contributes regular columns in Foreign Policy, Harvard Business Review, The Indian Express. More broadly, he has written for a wide range of publications, such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times, among others. His research is published in top-tier academic journals in economics, as well as in technology publications. His interviews have been featured in hundreds of media publications worldwide, including NPR, BBC, and CNBC.

Chakravorti is the creator of the widely-followed Digital Evolution Index, the idea of “Small AI," and a suite of measures of digital impact ranging from Smart Societies to AI Jobs Risk. His research has been supported by multiple foundations, such as Gates, Rockefeller, Mastercard, Heising-Simons, Omidyar Network, Onassis, and companies, such as Microsoft, Mastercard, VIA Science, and Western Union.

In a 35 year career, he has been an advisor to CEOs, senior management, boards of over 30 companies in the Fortune 500, and policymakers at national and international organizations, and he has worked across the Americas, European Union, Asia, and Africa. Prior to joining Fletcher, Chakravorti was a partner of McKinsey & Company, a distinguished scholar at MIT's Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, and on the faculty of Harvard Business School and Harvard University Center for the Environment. He was a leader of McKinsey's Innovation and Global Forces practices, served on its Knowledge Services Committee, and taught innovation and entrepreneurship at Harvard. Prior to that, he was a partner of the Monitor Group, a game theorist at Bellcore (previously Bell Labs), on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Tata Administrative Service, the leadership cadre for India’s Tata Group.

Chakravorti’s books include "Defeating Disinformation" (Cambridge University Press) which is co-edited with Joel Trachtman, and "The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World" (Harvard Business Press).