Australian Pavilion hosts key UN events at Expo

Australian thought leaders and visionaries will participate and discuss how we can support growth while mitigating damage to the planet at a series of high impact events hosted by the Australian Pavilion during Global Goals Week at Expo 2020 Dubai, 15-22 January 2022.

It furthers a shared commitment between more than 130 partners across civil society, business, academia, and the UN, to accelerate action on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our collective ambitions for dignified and equal opportunities for all; THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development (un.org).

Each year, government leaders, activists and academics gather to discuss our progress on SDGs and to take stock of how far we have come.

At Global Goals Week, best practices in clean energy, quality education, gender equality, last mile delivery, livelihood and enterprise development, women issues, and transformative solutions to recover from global challenges are highlighted.

Expo’s hosting of Global Goals Week this year is critically important as COVID-19 has negatively impacted the world’s progress towards reducing inequality on social and economic indicators., Australia will participate in and host over 25 events throughout Expo 2020 Dubai which relate to the advancement of the UN’s sustainability goals.

At Global Goals Week, the Australian Pavilion will host the World Majlis event ‘Power to Change the World: Fuelling a Sustainable World by 2030,’ on 16th January 2022 at 4 pm. Todd Clewett, Director of Global Affairs at Fortescue Future Industries, an Australian green energy giant will host the event. He will touch upon producing zero-emission green hydrogen from 100 per cent renewable sources and how cutting-edge technology can transform global carbon emitting industries.

Leanne Kemp, Founder and CEO of Everledger, a company that uses blockchain to track the provenance of high-value assets, was formerly Queensland’s Chief Entrepreneur. She will participate in ‘World Majlis - Extending the Revolution to Every Desk and Doorstep: Fourth Industrial Revolution for Everyone,’ on 18th January 2022 at 4-6 pm at the Terra Auditorium. Kemp sits on boards for the IBM Blockchain Board of Advisors, the World Trade Board, and the World Economic Forum’s blockchain council. She will focus on how emerging economies can reap the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and how innovative technologies will narrow or widen inequalities.

Australia has progressed in addressing key climate change issues and reducing greenhouse gas emissions across sectors including food & agribusiness, education, advanced manufacturing, resources and energy, healthcare, and infrastructure. Notable SDG related initiatives include:

The Emissions Reduction Fund incentivises businesses to adopt smarter practices to cut their greenhouse gas emissions Enabling the hydrogen industry to thrive through the National Hydrogen Strategy Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 is being enabled by The Technology Investment Roadmap Renewable Energy Target scheme to generate electricity from renewable sources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity sector.

Australian experts have already participated in Expo 2020 events in line with SDGs, such as the ‘World Majlis: Engineering a Balanced City’, ‘World Majlis: Lessons from Space’ and our ‘World Food Day - Stop the Waste’ events, which aligned with SDG goals to reduce hunger, take climate action, and support life on land. In addition to our events during Global Goals Week, future events in support of SDGs include, ‘World Majlis: Farms of the Future,’ focussed on the role of agricultural technologies in reducing the environmental impact of food production, and the ‘Expo 2020 Women in Sport Forum,’ focussed on driving gender equality through sports events and sport for development programs, featuring case studies of women’s leadership in sports industries from the region and globally.

On the other hand, Emilia Romagna celebrated its Expo 2020 Regional Day on Thursday (yesterday), with a line-up of educational and digital learning events; highlighting its prestigious role as a leading European hub for science education and digital inovation. Organized under the theme “Data Valley meets Expo”, the Italian historical region brought tohgether at Expo large numbers of educational istitutions, research centres, strategic partners and unevristy students from around the world.

The acitivites where also ornganized as part of the Emilia Romagna institutional mission led by HE Paola Salomoni, regional Minister for Education, University, Research and Digital Agenda, is underway (from January 11th to 17th). It is the second Emilia-Romagna mission at Expo 2020 Dubai, after the mission of President Stefano Bonaccini last December.

Commeting on the ocacion Paola Salomoni, regional Minister for Education said at the press conference: “In recent years, the Emilia-Romagna Region has chosen to invest in the creation of innovative skills, research and innovation as an engine for the growth of the territory. A vision - explain the regional Minister Paola Salomoni - shared with local authorities, education institutions and social partners strengthened with the sharing of the Pact for work and climate change.”

“This vision of regional development, combined with the ability of the innovation and production system to work as a team, will soon concentrate 80% of the national supercomputing capacity and over 20% of the European capacity at the Bologna Technopole, placing Europe at the level of giants like the US and China,”

“We are talking of the main European hub, making Emilia-Romagna jump in a few years from the 19th to the 5th position in the world ranking on Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, digital and new technologies. A citadel of science where solutions and practical applications can be designed in all sectors: mobility and time in cities, manufacturing, health, the environment and the fight against climate change. This is where the Data Center of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change is located and where will be housed the Italy Weather Agency and the most important national scientific and research bodies.”, Salomoni added.

The all-day events took place at the Amphitheater of the Italian Pavilion, where President Stefano Bonaccini, future prospects were discussed and the value of supercomputing for the development of science and society in an online call, with representatives of the main regional, national and international institutions involved including Francesco Ubertini, president of IFAB and CINECA and Antonio Zoccoli, president of INFN and the Big Data Association.

One of the majore topics that discussed was The skills on Big Data and Talents for Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Emilia-Romagna, where the it-ER, International Talents program of the Region were presented to the international community of Expo.

All the Universities of Emilia-Romagna where present and illistrated innovative projects in the field of smart grids on the intelligent use of energy (University of Ferrara), digital technologies applied to cultural heritage (University of Bologna) and medicine (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia).

On January 16th, Legacoop Emilia-Romagna will bring the theme of International Cooperation to Expo with two initiatives and the presentation of successful cases of regional companies and cooperatives on sustainable development and digital technology applied to agriculture.