This is the first in the Reflections from the Vice-Presidents series where each vice-president will offer a portfolio-level look at how their team's work is advancing SHAPE: The University Strategic Plan. We begin with the vice-president (International, Innovation and Enterprise), marking one year since the portfolio was formalized.
For the past several years, the University of Alberta community has navigated significant change. We have restructured, streamlined and adapted through a period of fiscal constraint. That work was necessary, and it isn't finished — but it shouldn't be the only lens through which we see ourselves. Alongside that restructuring, the university has also been building something genuinely new: a coordinated capacity to turn our strengths into strategic partnerships that help great research at the U of A reach the world.
One year ago, the Office of the Vice-President (International, Innovation and Enterprise) (VPIIE) was formalized. Created to advance the university's international, innovation and partnership objectives within SHAPE: The University Strategic Plan, VPIIE brings together our global engagement work and our innovation, knowledge mobilization and partnerships functions under a single, coordinated portfolio. Increasingly, the opportunities that shape a leading research university are larger, more interdisciplinary, and more international than any single faculty or administrative unit can pursue alone. Whether working with a multinational company, a foreign government, or a leading global university, success depends on coordinating expertise from across the institution. VPIIE was created to provide that institutional coordination, helping transform individual strengths into university-scale opportunities.
In practical terms, that means one team is responsible for the university's international research agreements and partner relationships, for moving research toward commercialization and technology transfer, and for connecting industry partners to the right people across our faculties, colleges and campuses. We help the university identify where it can have the greatest impact, then bring together the people, resources and partnerships needed to turn opportunity into action. By providing institutional coordination, relationship management and strategic support, we help ensure that partnership opportunities are pursued in a way that advances the university's mission and that creates long-term value for our students, our research community and the province.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to help advance President Bill Flanagan's vision in this role as vice-president (International, Innovation and Enterprise) and to do so alongside such a capable team.
Because universities are organized by academic disciplines, this can create silos. At the University of Alberta, we introduced colleges to build interdisciplinary teaching and research links among faculties and between colleges. This new portfolio's work builds on that same effort. The relationships and partnerships we build are increasingly complex and involve opportunities that can engage many academic and administrative units across the university, bringing together research, innovation, talent development and commercialization, making VPIIE highly collaborative.
For example, while responsibility for transnational education, international academic programming and international student recruitment resides with the provost and vice-president (Academic), our teams work closely together to ensure international opportunities are advanced through the appropriate institutional channels. Similarly, research initiatives are developed and led in close partnership with the vice-president (Research) team.
Looking back on VPIIE's first 12 months, I'm proud of what the team has built. Our biggest early challenge wasn't external — it was establishing internal trust and a track record. VPIIE is a new function at the University of Alberta, and it also reflects a new level of ambition for the institution.
Our strategic plan sets out the goal of ranking among the Top 50 universities in the world, and high-profile, impactful partnerships with leading global universities and major industry partners, together with a strong track record in commercialization, are essential to building that global reputation. We've worked to demonstrate this portfolio's value to our researchers, our students and the university as a whole by supporting them in pursuit of their own goals — and that approach is starting to show results.
This past year included a productive visit to Silicon Valley, where a delegation of U of A representatives met with several major technology companies, including Apple, Nvidia and Cisco. Those conversations reflected a keen interest in the university's strengths in energy and AI research. One outcome is a significant enterprise partnership we will announce in the coming weeks — one that will support substantial industry investment and resources into our research programs, expand opportunities for our graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and strengthen the infrastructure our researchers rely on.
We've also seen encouraging engagement from international university partners. Recent examples include a letter of intent with Tohoku University, one of Japan's leading research institutions; and a memorandum of understanding with the University of Queensland in Australia, which includes collaboration on regional security aligned with Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy.
These relationships point to something beyond traditional research exchanges. They are opportunities for the University of Alberta to contribute its research strengths to conversations of global significance alongside strong global partners and, in turn, to bring new resources, training opportunities and visibility back to our own research community.
VPIIE does not replace the partnership activities of faculties, colleges or administrative units, nor does it own their external relationships. Academic leadership and subject-matter expertise remain where they belong: within our faculties and colleges. Our role is to help identify strategic opportunities, connect the right people, coordinate complex multi-unit engagements and provide institutional support where broader coordination creates additional value.
As we move into Year 2, our focus shifts from building the portfolio to delivering measurable institutional outcomes. Priorities include finalizing the university's partnership strategy through broad consultation across campus; expanding our portfolio of strategic enterprise and international partnerships; strengthening regional partnership strategies; creating a more integrated innovation ecosystem by connecting incubators and commercialization supports; and advancing a sustainable next phase for the University Innovation Fund.
To support this work, VPIIE is developing the university's first institution-wide partnership strategy through consultation with faculties, colleges, administrative units and external partners. The strategy will provide a shared framework for identifying, prioritizing and supporting high-value partnerships while recognizing the diverse ways different parts of the university engage externally.
Strategy matters, but culture is what sustains it. The culture we're building is one of ambition. We're taking the outstanding research already happening at the University of Alberta and using it to build the university's global reputation, to forge links with leading universities around the world that will advance that research further, and to build relationships with industry that support our researchers and extend the university's impact. The best partnerships are built by researchers, academic leaders and professional staff working together. VPIIE's role is to help create the conditions that allow those partnerships to flourish by providing institutional coordination, strategic advice and connections that individual units cannot easily develop on their own.
The University of Alberta's mandate has always centred on serving the public good. VPIIE's job is to advance that mandate: more research that reaches industry and policy, more opportunities for our students and postdocs, and stronger partnerships that our faculties and colleges can build on. We encourage colleagues across the university to reach out to VPIIE as they advance their own strategic and international goals.
There's work ahead, and opportunity in it. I'm looking forward to Year 2. The University of Alberta has always been defined by the excellence of its people and research. Our ambition is to ensure that excellence is matched by equally ambitious partnerships that expand our global reach, strengthen Alberta's innovation economy and create lasting opportunities for our students, researchers and communities. Year 1 was about building the platform. Year 2 is about scaling its impact.
Dr. David Bressler
Vice-president (International, Innovation and Enterprise)