Robert Muggah

Robert Muggah is a globally recognized specialist in safer and smart cities, cyber security and the digital economy. He is co-founder and principle of the SecDev Group – a digital risk firm focused on using data-driven tools to solve complex challenges. He also co-founded the Igarapé Institute – ranked the top social policy think and do tank in the world by Prospect in 2019 – and committed to evidence-based citizen, digital and climate security. Robert advises organizations ranging from  Google, McKinseys and Uber to the EU, OECD, OSCE, UN and the World Bank. He advises several technology start-ups and builds automated fusion analytics for a range of clients.

For two decades Robert has advised national and municipal governments, tech companies and international organizations in over 50 countries on issues ranging from data-driven crime prevention and urban renewal to mitigating cyber threats and building digital resilience. He is a fellow at Princeton University, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Bosche Academy, and faculty at Singularity University. He also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Future Council on Cities, the advisory council of the annual Global Risk Report and co-chairs the advisory council of the Global Parliament of Mayors. He is often invited by the UN Secretary General to contribute to high-level panels and reports.

Robert has authored eight books and around 100 articles in peer-review journals – including most recently Terra Incognita: 100 Maps to Survive the Next 100 Years (2020, Penguin/Random House, available in 6 languages in 2021). He has also taught at several universities including the Graduate Institute in Geneva, the University of San Diego, the University of British Columbia and has lectured at others including Columbia, Harvard and Science-Po. He is a regular contributor to the Atlantic, Financial Times, Guardian, Economist, El Pais, Financial Times, Folha de Sao Paulo, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, New York Times, and Wired (as well as over a dozen French, Spanish and Portuguese outlets) and gave TED talks in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Robert received his PPhil from the University of Oxford.