Which is why between 200 and 300 people from 20 countries are slated to be in town next week exploring the intersection between artificial intelligence and health sciences — and maybe learn more about Pitt and Pittsburgh's vital role in this endeavor along the way.
"The story of what's happening at the University of Pittsburgh and the city of Pittsburgh is gaining momentum," Ms. Gabel said during a media interview on Monday. "... This is a really important moment for us to talk about what's happening here at the intersection of health and AI, because it really is at the leading edge."
The gathering marks a historic event on numerous points. This is the first time that the Global Innovation Summit — an annual gathering of international leaders in industry, government, business and academia, hosted by the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils — will take place in the United States.
That summit is being paired for the first time with a Competitiveness Conversations series, hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Competitiveness, which has a self-described goal of undercovering emerging practices and helping highlight them to be scaled up for wider use.
The Global Innovation Summit will take place Oct. 19 and 20, while the Competitiveness Conversations series will occur Oct. 20 and 21.
Speakers at the three-day event will include Ms. Gabel, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian and Ohio State University President Ted Carter.
The summit is perhaps reminiscent of Carnegie Mellon University's energy and AI summit in July. That one was attended by President Donald Trump and other national leaders.
Pittsburgh is a hub for artificial intelligence research, Ms. Gabel said, but "not everyone knows it." The back-to-back summits at Pittsburgh's two largest universities are coincidental, but they highlight the region's strength in a critical area.
"Having events like the energy summit at CMU and [the Pitt summit] ... really cements what it means to be a hub," Ms. Gabel said. "People look to us for best practice, what's coming around the corner, partnership [and] investment."
Pitt's strength in health sciences positions it as an ideal host for conversations about how artificial intelligence integrates with those fields, school leaders believe.
A panel Monday will be dedicated to Pitt Bioforge, a $250 million lab and manufacturing facility at Hazelwood Green slated to open within two or three years.
Bioforge will be the "epicenter" of precision biomanufacturing powered by AI, Ms. Gabel said.
"It is a catalyzing factor for our whole community," the chancellor said.
When Ms. Gabel pitched Pitt as the host of the 2025 event on her trip to North Ireland last year, the university had already been slated to host the Competitiveness Conversations series and she saw potential in combining the two events.
The global summit fits into Pitt's strategic goal of bolstering its national reputation.
The university is seeing an influx in interest from prospective students. Last year, Pitt received a historic 65,000 applications, and the Oakland campus has its highest enrollment on record this fall. Pitt and CMU also both found themselves on a Forbes list of "new Ivies" in the spring.
Strong enrollment and national rankings are indicators of momentum and the summit can build off that, Ms. Gabel believes.
"To really cement your reputation in a specific area of excellence, you have to bring people to you," she said. "There's no ranking for that, or single bit of media coverage or [faculty] presentation [for that] ... you have to have that matrixed engagement."
Summit attendance is by invitation only. Students are invited, and some will participate in summit demonstrations.
Events will take place in the Cathedral of Learning and The Assembly, a university life science building in Bloomfield.
A full itinerary is available on Pitt's website.
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