International Grand Strategy Competition Showcases Wikistrat's "Collaborative Competition" Approach To Geostrategy

Online, June 17, 2011 (Newswire.com) - What if you could tap into a comprehensive knowledge base with a few taps on your iPad? See competing analyses on today's biggest geopolitical developments? Explore multiple futures alongside top analysts? Wikistrat, an Israeli startup, is making that possible, and demonstrating the firm's interactive wiki-based model and unique methodology of Collaborate Competition in the first ever International Grand Strategy Competition, giving top ranking graduate students and emerging experts access to the model and a chance to win $10,000.

One week into Wikistrat's International Grand Strategy Competition, 38 teams representing 13 different countries have submitted their initial entries, building the foundation for a new body of knowledge- a testament to the analytical prowess and keen insight of the competitors.

The teams have used Wikistrat's innovative and interactive model to formulate strategies on five high relevant geopolitical issues: global energy security; global economic rebalancing; terrorism; the Sino-American relationship; and Southwest Asia nuclear proliferation. Through 44,097 actions on the wiki, teams have created about 150 pages of original content in the fulfilment of the first week's assignment: to map out their assigned country's national interests on each of the five issues.

Wikistrat's uniquely innovative and interactive wiki-based model has made it possible for participants around the globe to easily engage with team members, competitors and Wikistrat's top analysts. In a testament to the technological advantage offered by Wikistrat's model, many competitors, including students from the University of Kentucky's Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, are relying on iPads as they research, formulate and compose their entries, finding Wikistrat's model to be iPad friendly.

Chief Judge Dr. Thomas PM Barnett, who graded this week's entries, had several observations about the Competition thus far. First and foremost, Wikistrat's methodology of "Collaborative Competition" truly works, as evidenced by the fact that interaction between many of the teams resulted in more insightful and interdisciplinary analyses. Wikistrat's model also allows teams to logically map out their thought process as they develop their strategies, allowing others to trace the paths by which they arrived at their strategies. By having a clearer understanding of the bigger picture, competitors have been able to turn challenges into opportunities. Dr. Barnett's favorite example: "one North Korean team, surveying the course of Asia's economic integration with the world, decided that its impoverished population actually advantages the country as the last great untapped cheap-labor pool in East Asia!"

Wikistrat eagerly anticipates many more keen observations and analyses in what promises to be an exciting Competition showcasing how the firm's model can facilitate the development of multifaceted analyses and novel solutions to the challenges faced by governments and businesses as they navigate a deeply interconnected international environment.

Dr. Barnett's full summary of the first week of the International Grand Strategy Competition is available at http://thomaspmbarnett.com/globlogization/2011/6/16/grand-strategy-competition-update.html.

Complete details of the Competition can be accessed at www.wikistrat.com/competition.

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