UNU is a think-tank for the United Nations System and is dedicated to the generation and transfer of knowledge and the strengthening of individual and institutional capacities in furtherance of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. It began operations in 1975 as an autonomous organ of the United Nations General Assembly.
UNU brings together important global intellectual and policy voices, including Olivier Blanchard, Francois Bourguignon, Noam Chomsky, Richard Cooper, Robert Johnson, Eisuke Sakakibara, Joseph Stiglitz, in a multimedia intellectual forum on the economic crisis entitled "UNU Economic Crisis Conversation Series".