Highlights of HPAIR

In 1991, three intrepid Harvard undergraduates crafted a vision of an organization that would bring together university students from across Asia and the world to exchange ideas on important international issues and build educational links among the world's future leaders. Just a year later, the first annual HPAIR conference came together in Taipei, at a time when the Cold War was just drawing to a close. The inaugural HPAIR conference sought to address the issues of an uncertain but exciting world, and was such a success that there was strong support to continue to the project. Between 1993 and 1995, HPAIR solidified its signature international pattern, holding its conference in a different Asian metropolis each year.

By 1996, changes in the geopolitical landscape, combined with rapid technological and economic advance, had ushered in a new era of greater cooperation among countries, and allowed modern financial and political ties to transcend national borders as never before. Held in Korea, HPAIR 1996 was one of the first scholarly platforms to provide students and academics with the opportunity to explore the new phenomenon of globalization. In the wake of the Asian financial crisis, HPAIR 1998, held in Malaysia, sought to look beyond Asia's economic growth and to address the myriad challenges that accompany the "Asian Miracle." By 1999, after eighteen months that had fundamentally undermined many assumptions about Asian affairs, a once thriving and stable region faced a future clouded with uncertainty. Delegates at the conference also had to consider whether multilateral cooperative institutions were equipped to manage challenges of interdependence, economic friction, and conflict.

HPAIR's tenth anniversary conference convened in Singapore in 2001, focusing on some of the most fascinating consequences of the technological change that had swept the globe in the previous decade, discussing strategies to bridge the digital divide, the impact of technology on health issues and Asian healthcare systems, the relevance of the "knowledge economy," and education in the information age.

Following the 2001 conference, HPAIR substantially expanded the pool of conference applicants, and began an on-campus program of events on the Harvard campus. The success of this program lead to its significant expansion in 2002. By 2004, HPAIR emerged as the largest annual Harvard event in Asia and the largest student conference in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2004 we selected delegates from the largest application pool in HPAIR history, and also inaugurated a successful business conference. HPAIR has gained a reputation as one of the most visible university forums in the region, with the regular attendance of some of the world's most distinguished leaders.