Programme overview
G-STIC Conference January 2022
Sessions labeled will take place in one of the following conference venues: Dubai Exhibition Centre, Sustainability Pavilion, Norway Pavilion, Belgian Pavilion and Brazil Pavilion. Sessions labeled will be live-streamed from Dubai and can be followed online.
Dubai Exhibition Centre – Main Hall – 2A South
Health
Health
Environmental and social technologies to build health resilience
18/01/2022, 10:00 - 11:30 GST (Dubai)
07:00 - 08:30 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
08:00 - 09:30 SAST (Cape Town)
01:00 - 02:30 EST (New York)
15:00 - 16:30 KST (Seoul)
14:00 - 15:30 CST (Beijing)
11:30 - 13:00 IST (New Delhi)
03:00 - 04:30 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Increasingly extreme weather events brought on by global warming are killing hundreds of thousands and disrupting millions of lives while threatening healthcare systems and facilities when they are most needed. At the same time, changes in climate and biodiversity loss are challenging food security and increasing the prevalence of many diseases.
COVID-19 allowed to review infectious diseases surveillance strategies to incorporate environmental and animal components into health assessment – the One Health concept. Through previous pandemics, humanity learned valuable lessons, such as what triggers the emergence of a new pathogen, how to monitor it, and how to block the transmission. But those improvements were not enough to keep us from struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. The world cannot sustain a repetition of these pandemic impacts. To avoid future outbreaks, different actions are necessary. Sophisticated technology and modern genetic tools enable more efficient monitoring of wildlife pathogens and can serve as valuable tools to build pandemic preparedness and response.
The battle against COVID-19 is far from over. At the same time, our unsustainable relationship with nature is far from fixed. If the response to COVID-19 does not align with national climate change strategies, the world will not be able to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. Therefore, health and health systems will become increasingly more damaged.
This session will present how science, technology, and innovation (STI) can integrate environmental parameters and health data to predict diseases and the importance of forming partnerships, tackling inequalities and strengthening the links between environmental policy goals and public health to win this battle and prepare for new outbreaks.
Chaired by
The georeferenced wildlife health information system

Douglas Adriano Augusto
Fiocruz
Researcher
Douglas A. Augusto is a computer scientist research fellow at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Brazil. He has a background in data-driven modeling through machine learning algorithms and also in parallel high-performance computing. For the past years he has been working on modeling the occurrence of zoonotic diseases, with emphasis on sylvatic yellow fever.
Climate change adaptation technologies for health

Kim Hyun
University of Minnesota
Professor
Hyun Kim is an environmental epidemiologist and an associate professor at the University of Minnesota in the United States of America. Kim’s main research areas are climate change adaptation strategies and the minimization of climate change impact from the public health perspective. Kim works closely with the World Health Organization to develop international and national-level projects to build climate resilience in the health sector.
Panel discussion
Education
Education
Bridging the digital divide for more equitable and inclusive childhood education
18/01/2022, 11:45 - 13:15 GST (Dubai)
08:45 - 10:15 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
09:45 - 11:15 SAST (Cape Town)
02:45 - 04:15 EST (New York)
16:45 - 18:15 KST (Seoul)
15:45 - 17:15 CST (Beijing)
13:15 - 14:45 IST (New Delhi)
04:45 - 06:15 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Access to the internet supports learning and provides educational resources, making it an effective, low-cost solution for children’s education. However, not every child is connected to the internet, and this automatically creates a digital divide. And among children who are connected, certain groups are discriminated against and excluded. Both scenarios need to be addressed in order to achieve inclusiveness and equality in digitally-supported education.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a booming technological domain which has already begun producing new teaching and learning solutions. These are now being used to ensure equitable and inclusive access to education and appropriate learning opportunities for marginalised people and communities, people with disabilities, refugees, those out of school and those living in isolated communities. However, for all of these positive aspects, AI presents its own challenges and there is a need to ensure this doesn’t create its own digital divide.
Chaired by
Keynote speech

Lynn Ang
UCL Institute of Education (IOE)
Professor of Early Childhood Education, Pro-Director and Vice-Dean Research
Lynn Ang is Professor of Early Childhood, Pro-Director and Vice-Dean Research at UCL Institute of Education. She is also currently Head of the Department of Learning and Leadership. Her research interests include the interdisciplinary fields of early childhood and international development, and early childhood across cultures particularly in South East Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Lynn is interested in the social, cultural and policy influences on children’s development and early learning in a range of formal and informal contexts such as preschool and home-based settings. Prof. Ang is particularly interested in constructions of early childhood care and education from an international perspective, the impact of research, and the ways in which socially relevant research and advocacy for children and families are translated into policy and practice.
Keynote speech

Manos Antoninis
UNESCO
Director of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report
Manos Antoninis is the Director of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report since 2017. He was previously responsible for the monitoring section of the report. He coordinated the financing gap estimates for the 2030 education targets, the projections on the achievement of universal primary and secondary education completion, and the World Inequality Database on Education. He has been representing the report team in the Technical Cooperation Group on SDG 4 indicators, which he is currently co-chairing.
Panel discussion

Rhoda Myra Garces-Bacsal
United Arab Emirates University
Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Education
Myra Garces-Bacsal is the Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies for the College of Education at the United Arab Emirates University. She also serves as Associate Professor with the Department of Special Education. Prior to moving to the Middle East, she served as a teacher educator in Singapore where she taught for eleven years.
She was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Commendation Award in 2019, recipient of an Excellence in Teaching Commendation Award in 2012 and a Service Commendation Award in 2013. She was selected by the International Youth Library in Munich as an International Fellow in 2016 and 2017. She served as Chair of the Programme Committee for the Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) held annually in Singapore from 2011-2019 and currently serves as the International Advisor-at-Large for the AFCC.
She has edited five books on Asian children’s literature featuring the Philippines, Malaysia, China, India, and Japan.

Eduardo Cascallar
Co-Director of International Cognitive Research Consortium; Guest Professor of University of Leuven, Belgium; CEO AGI (USA/EU)
Eduardo Cascallar received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently Invited Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, as well as Managing Director for Assessment Group International (Belgium/USA). He is also an international consultant for the World Bank, OECD and UNESCO. He was Principal Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research, working in international assessment projects, assessment of higher education examinations, and in automated predictive methodologies in national security applications.
In 1991 Cascallar received a recognition from the American Psychological Society for his contributions to scientific psychology, and in 1994 he received the Hammer Award from the Office of the Presidency of the USA for his contributions to the USA government. He also held research and/or faculty positions at UCLA, ETS Georgetown University and with the US Federal government intelligence community.
Cascallar was Director of Assessment at CUNY, and Dean of Assessment at Excelsior College. His research includes work on the assessment of cognitive abilities, the role of working memory and executive attention in academic outcomes and in complex problem solving, the role of heritability in cognitive processing levels, educational assessments, performance assessment, large-scale testing, IRT applications, and computer- based assessment. More recently he has worked in various predictive methodologies in educational, medical, and national security applications.
Cascallar has a long list of publications and presentations at international conferences and is active in various international professional organizations, providing consulting services to academic and corporate institutions, and to international governmental and private organizations in many countries.

Najelaa Shihab
Indonesia
Founder of Sekolah Cikal, Sekolah.mu and Karier.mu
Najelaa Shihab is an educator who initiated many organizations in the education field. Some of them are directly dealing with children. She has found schools from preprimary up til senior secondary, like Sekolah Cikal, and a Blended Learning School called Sekolah Murid Merdeka. She is also the Head and Founder of Sekolah.mu, a blended learning platform that provides a range of elective classes to complement school programs and Karier.mu is an education platform for jobseekers and talent development.
She works extensively with different stakeholders in the education ecosystem in many initiatives. Supporting teachers’ development and collaboration through Yayasan Guru Belajar, research and policy advocation with the government, in Pusat Studi Pendidikan dan Kebijakan. She also initiated an organization that focuses on family education – Keluarga Kita, working with thousands of volunteers in more than 150 cities named Relawan Keluarga Kita, and founded Semua Murid Semua Guru Network which is a hub of collaboration for more than 800 NGOs and education communities working on the field for education reform in Indonesia.

Kehkashan Basu
Founder-President, Green Hope Foundation, UN Human Rights Champion
Kehkashan Basu is a Winner of the 2016 International Children’s Peace Prize for her work on children’s rights and the environment, and the first-ever Voices Youth Gorbachev-Shultz Legacy Award for her work on nuclear disarmament.
Kehkashan is the Founder President of the social innovation enterprise Green Hope Foundation, which provides over 225,000 young people in 25 countries a networking platform to engage in the sustainable development process and take actions to mitigate climate change. Her internationally acclaimed work on sustainability has resulted in her being named one of the Top 100 SDG Leaders in the world and one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.
She is the youngest member of Canada’s Women in Renewable Energy forum and the youngest Councillor of World Future Council. She has just been elected to the Board of Trustees of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, making her, at 20 years old, its youngest trustee in its 127-year history.
Q&A
Education
Education
Educating tertiary students to become sustainable innovators
18/01/2022, 13:45 - 15:15 GST (Dubai)
10:45 - 12:15 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
11:45 - 13:15 SAST (Cape Town)
04:45 - 06:15 EST (New York)
18:45 - 20:15 KST (Seoul)
17:45 - 19:15 CST (Beijing)
15:15 - 16:45 IST (New Delhi)
06:45 - 08:15 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Because technology is developing so fast, the skillsets tertiary students need to acquire to prepare them for the real world is also changing really fast. So fast, that it isn’t even possible to predict what will need to be taught in just a few years’ time. When planning tomorrow’s education, more focus therefore needs to be on how the curriculum itself needs to change, rather than on updating the contents within existing courses.
One thing which is currently known, however, is the need to provide education in the context of sustainable development. Tomorrow’s innovators will need to have the ability to transform the world to sustainability, using the emerging technologies of the 4th industrial revolution. To achieve this, the educational curriculum and methods of engineering education should be aligned with SDGs and the 4th industrial revolution.
Tertiary education of the future might thereby be designed around (1) embedding knowledge and skills related to sustainable development into the design of the curriculum itself (2) strengthening all adult learners’ skills for using Information Communication Data Technology and Artificial Intelligence (ICDT&AI) (3) extending inter-disciplinary and international cooperation capability (4) enhancing engineering ethics education for responsible engineering practices.
To guide the evolution of the world’s education and ensure its quality, it will be necessary to establish a global benchmark standard of graduate attributes.
Chaired by
Keynote speech

Alexandre Lyambabaje
Vice Chancellor of University of Rwanda; former Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa
Alexandre Lyambabaje is the University of Rwanda Vice Chancellor. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Executive Secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa. He has served in different capacities in the Government of Rwanda. In 1999, he was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education. In 2000, he was appointed Minister of Commerce, Tourism, Industry, Investments Promotion and Cooperatives, a position he held until 2003. He also contributed to the regional integration process through active participation in the ministerial meetings of East African Community and COMESA. Prof Lyambabaje holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and a Doctorate in Mathematics from University de Rennes in France.
Keynote speech

Angelo Paletta
University of Bologna
Head of Department of Management
Angelo Paletta is Delegate of the Rector of the University of Bologna for “Budget, strategic planning and process innovation”; President of the University Scientific Technical Committee for Social and Sustainability Report; Co-director of the Master in “Public Management and Innovation” at Bologna Business School (BBS); He has been a member of numerous scientific committees including MIUR, INVALSI, INDIRE, IPRASE.
He has written numerous books and articles on: Corporate Internal Controls, Cost Management; Corporate Performance Measurement, Corporate Crisis Management, Public Management, Educational Leadership, Governance and Accountability of Universities; Circular economy and business models. He is currently coordinator of the European project Horizon 2020 “Developing and Implementing Sustainability- Based Solutions for Bio-Based Plastic Production and Use to Preserve Land and Sea Environmental Quality in Europe.
Panel discussion

Muhannad Anwar Al-Shboul
University of Jordan
Vice Dean for Quality Affairs and Development at the School of Educational Sciences
Al-Shboul currently is a Vice Dean for Quality Affairs and Development at the School of Educational Sciences in The University of Jordan. He is a Professor of Educational Technology (e-Learning) at The University of Jordan in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction/Educational Technology Program.
He earned his bachelor degree in the area of Business Administration, major in Accounting, from Yarmouk University in Jordan (January, 1996). He earned his M.S. in the area of Computer Science, major in Web Design, from Northeastern Illinois University in the United States (May, 2002). Al-Shboul finished his Ph.D. in the area of Educational Technology, major in Web-Based Learning (e-Learning), from Northern Illinois University in the USA (May, 2007).

Nibal Idlebi
Chief of Innovation at UN-ESCWA, Senior expert in Technology for Development, Digital Government and Knowledge Society
Nibal Idlebi is the Chief of Innovation Section at UN-ESCWA. She is a senior policy expert in digital transformation, innovation and technology for sustainable development and digital and open innovative government. She has long experience on policies and strategies advancing knowledge society, digital government transformation, innovation policies and innovation and technology for promoting entrepreneurship in the Arab countries.
She also supervised several regional initiatives on Digital Arabic Content, building trust in cyber space; regional profile of information society and she is currently leading the ESCWA initiative on fostering open government in the Arab region and the ESCWA Award for Digital Arabic Content.
Idlebi is active member in several international and regional working groups and is a jury member of regional and international awards on innovation, entrepreneurship and digital content, and she was a jury member in many e-Government Awards in the Arab Region.
Before joining ESCWA, Idlebi was deputy Minister in the Ministry of Communication and Technology and professor of IT in the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology in Syria. Idlebi has a computer engineering degree and a Ph.D in Computer Science from France.

Isabel Rimanoczy
Convener PRME Working Group on the Sustainability Mindset
Isabel Rimanoczy Ed.D is the Convener of the PRME Working Group of the Sustainability Mindset, an international network of scholars promoting a mindset for shaping a better planet. She has authored fifteen books, most recently a guide for educators: The Sustainability Mindset Principles. Her latest project is the Sustainability Mindset Indicator, a personal development tool for individuals and a teaching support for instructors, due to be launched in autumn 2021.

Raja Maznah
Sultan Qaboos University
Professor at Institute of Education
Raja Maznah Raja Hussain obtained her PhD in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University in 1988. She is currently working as Professor at Sultan Qaboos University since 2017. She is an Instructional Designer and Coach with a passion to make things easy for people to learn. She has vast experience in designing and developing training programmes for schools, higher education institutions and others.
Recently she has been an advocate of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) encouraging teachers (especially in higher education) to examine their practice and to share the teaching that makes learning happens with others. She is interested in helping individuals and institutions develop learning environments that help learners learn. Her main research interests are in Instructional design; Technology Enhanced Learning Environment; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Shannon Kobran
UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Lead, SDG Academy Kuala Lumpur
Shannon Kobran leads the SDG Academy’s Kuala Lumpur team as part of the new SDSN-Asia office of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, having spent three years as an Education Manager in the New York office. Prior to joining SDSN, she coordinated outreach and development for a small nonprofit that promotes global citizenship through cultural exchange between international students and local communities in New York City.
Her first career, before transitioning to international education, was as an editor and project manager for a leading educational publisher. Shannon holds an MA in International Educational Development from Teachers College, Columbia University, where her research thesis focused on the intersection of technology and intercultural education; and a BA from Dickinson College, USA, where she studied English literature.

Alexander D’Hooghe
Chief Strategic Officer and Founding Partner, Organization for Permanent Modernity and Associate Professor, MIT
Alexander D’Hooghe is Associate Professor at MIT and Chief Strategic Officer and Founding Partner of the design agency and think tank, ORG Permanent Modernity based in Brussels and New York, which is active internationally in systems, urbanism and architecture. He has published internationally, notably with ‘the Liberal Monument’ (Princeton, Fall 2010) and with recent papers in relevant journals in Germany, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the USA, etc. His urban designs and analyses have included sites in New York City, Shenzhen, Belgium, The Netherlands, Iceland, South-Korea, Malawi, Ghana, parts of Russia, etc.
His expertise is regularly engaged in large multi-functional infrastructure projects and masterplans such as the current resiliency plan developments with coastal design and multifunctional offshore infrastructures in the North Sea as well as new architectural typologies in the canal district of Brussels that mixes education and the arts, with manufacturing, commercial, residential and public spaces. He serves as the director of the advisory committee in Amsterdam to develop meaningful infrastructure to connect the banks of the IJ river. Additionally, he is commissioned to support long-term development plans for Malawi’s urban and rural agricultural and industrial development, focusing on land use efficiency, infrastructural connectivity, environmental sensitivity and diverse economic productivity.
Alexander was formerly the director of MIT Centre For Advanced Urbanism (CAU), which focuses on the large-scale, complex urban issues of our time. D’Hooghe obtained a PhD from the Berlage Institute in 2007with T.U. Delft, published as the book ‘The Liberal Monument’ (Princeton Press, 2010). He previously obtained a Master’s degree in Urban Design from Harvard in 2001, and a Master’s degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Leuven in 1996. He worked with among others Rem Koolhaas and Marcel Smets.
Q&A
Water
Water
International coalitions in practice to enhance the value of water
18/01/2022, 15:30 - 17:00 GST (Dubai)
12:30 - 14:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
13:30 - 15:00 SAST (Cape Town)
06:30 - 08:00 EST (New York)
20:30 - 22:00 KST (Seoul)
19:30 - 21:00 CST (Beijing)
17:00 - 18:30 IST (New Delhi)
08:30 - 10:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
When hydrological systems cross regional, state or national boundaries, coalitions set up to improve water availability and services often have to contend with different regulations and governance structures. The socio-economic, environmental and water resources situations may also be quite different. This session will explore how international coalitions work in practice to overcome barriers to equitable water access and develop measures for adaptation to extreme flood and drought events. Lessons learnt will provide the framework for enhancing the value of water.
Facilitated by
Experience of the China – Europe Water partnership in water-related scientific, policy and business cooperation

Pedro Liberto
Ministry of Environment and Climate Action in Portugal
Secretary General
Lake Water is transboundary: how to support international coalition in the Great lakes region to tackle water challenges – Lake Tanganyika case
Interactive Q&A
Health
Health
STI roadmaps as tools for building resilience to future health crises
18/01/2022, 17:15 - 18:30 GST (Dubai)
14:15 - 15:30 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
15:15 - 16:30 SAST (Cape Town)
08:15 - 09:30 EST (New York)
22:15 - 23:30 KST (Seoul)
21:15 - 22:30 CST (Beijing)
18:45 - 20:00 IST (New Delhi)
10:15 - 11:30 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
The intensifying and varied challenges our world is facing all require meaningful solutions. These solutions derive from the combined power of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) and the convergence of a wide range of technology domains.
For this matter, the 2030 Agenda’s Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) joined forces with the United Nations to develop the Global Pilot Programme on STI for SDGs Roadmaps. Another initiative, the UN Research Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery is a tool that aims to catalyze a worldwide research capacity for COVID-19 recovery effort. The WHO’S R&B Blueprint was another relevant roadmap that has helped facing the COVID-19 crisis with relevant results.
Insights from the full range of disciplines, including natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, social sciences and the humanities, are more needed than ever. Roadmaps can ease the identification of existing knowledge and gaps. They can also improve coordination and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and preparedness for future health emergencies.
Chaired by

Gerson Oliveira Penna Penna
Fiocruz
Researcher
Medical Doctor, Graduated at the Federal University of Pará. Holder of a Specialization in Dermatology by the Brazilian Society of Dermatology; Doctor in Tropical Medicine at the University of Brasília, Post-doctorate in Public Health at the Institute of Public Health at the Federal University of Bahia. Elected Vice President of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology and President of the Brazilian Congress of Dermatology. Founder and Former Director of the National Center of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health of Brazil. Special Advisor to the Minister of Health Adib Jatene, Consultant of the PAHO, WHOS and PNUD. Former Chairman of the Advisory Board of the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance. Former director of Fiocruz Brasilia.
Full Collaborator Doctor and Researcher at the Tropical Medicine Group at the University of Brasilia. His academic production sums more than 253 scientific papers. Gerson Penna is among the scientists who have contributed the most to studies on neglected diseases around the world over the past 10 years. Among dermatologists, it is the first on the list: https://www.expertscape.com/ex/leprosy. Deputy Editor of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Areas of knowledge: Public Health; Epidemiology; Infectious Diseases; Social Determinants in Health; Public Policies.
Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) roadmaps for the SDGs

Wei Liu
Coordinator of the UN Inter-agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs, PhD., DSDG, UN DESA
Wei Liu is the Coordinator of the UN Inter-agency Task Team on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Officer in the Integrated Policy and Analysis Branch of the Division for Sustainable Development Goals, UN DESA. He provides both substantive and organizational support to the implementation of the science, technology and innovation (STI)-related decisions contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and other related global processes. Wei Liu joined the United Nations in 2005. He has mainly worked in development policy and contributed to various United Nations publications including the Global Sustainable Development Report and policy briefs of the Technology Facilitation Mechanisms.
His research areas cover from STI policy and roadmaps, AI strategies, green economy and trade, technology solutions for the SDGs, financing for a green economy transition, inequality, and post 2015 development agenda, trade finance and aid in the context of global financial crisis, to food security and sustainable agriculture. Working in the Rio+20 Secretariat, he was extensively involved in the United Nations Rio + 20 process and provided technical support on green economy, trade, and finance related issues for the Rio+20 negotiations. Before that, Wei Liu worked as an Associated Economic Affairs Officer in the Trade and Investment Division, UN-ESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand, and as a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, the UK. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Birmingham.
Panel discussion
Dubai Exhibition Centre – Break-out – 2A Suite
All themes
Circular and sustainable construction from an international perspective
18/01/2022, 10:00 - 11:30 GST (Dubai)
07:00 - 08:30 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
08:00 - 09:30 SAST (Cape Town)
01:00 - 02:30 EST (New York)
15:00 - 16:30 KST (Seoul)
14:00 - 15:30 CST (Beijing)
11:30 - 13:00 IST (New Delhi)
03:00 - 04:30 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
On the pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the linear business-as-usual scenario has to be transformed into a circular and sustainable model. This will involve disruptive technological and societal transformations.
The construction sector and built environment play a significant role in all this, due to their significant economic, environmental and societal impacts. Transforming this sector will require adoption of local and regional strategies based on contextual circumstances such as climate, biodiversity, resource availability and user needs.
This session will present and discuss circular and sustainable practices in the construction sector, as applied in different regions, from a policy and implementation perspective with regard to the sector’s contribution to reaching the SDGs.
Facilitated by
Health
Health
Vaccine and diagnostic technologies in response to health crises
18/01/2022, 14:00 - 15:30 GST (Dubai)
11:00 - 12:30 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
12:00 - 13:30 SAST (Cape Town)
05:00 - 06:30 EST (New York)
19:00 - 20:30 KST (Seoul)
18:00 - 19:30 CST (Beijing)
15:30 - 17:00 IST (New Delhi)
07:00 - 08:30 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated how quickly disease can spread in a globalised world. Technology played a crucial role in shortening the time to develop and produce medical devices, diagnostics kits and vaccines to deaccelerate COVID-19 deaths.
However, access to these technologies is not equitable around the world. Low availability, typically in low-income countries, results in lengthening the duration of the pandemic and making room for the emergence of new variants.
This session will examine the existing international collaborative framework which has been created to advance technologies for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. It will also discuss how the production of health devices can be speed up via technology and international cooperation, to reduce inequalities and promote universal access to health.
Chaired by

Mauricio Zuma
Fiocruz
Director of Biomanguinhos
Paradigm shift and innovation in a world hungry for vaccines
Panel discussion
All themes
Global Solutions Forum
18/01/2022, 16:00 - 18:00 GST (Dubai)
13:00 - 15:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
14:00 - 16:00 SAST (Cape Town)
07:00 - 09:00 EST (New York)
21:00 - 23:00 KST (Seoul)
20:00 - 22:00 CST (Beijing)
17:30 - 19:30 IST (New Delhi)
09:00 - 11:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Solving the world’s biggest problems isn’t easy. But all over the planet, brilliant people are implementing local initiatives designed to help achieve the SDGs. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s Global Solutions Forum (SDSN’s GSF) brings these people together in an inclusive space to share progress, highlight important takeaways and inspire one another to keep moving forward.
In partnership with G-STIC, the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet, the GSF will showcase five current initiatives taking place within the SDSN’s National and Regional Networks. This session will feature presentations on the solutions being implemented in Bangladesh, Colombia, Cyprus, Thailand and Turkey.
Facilitated by
Panel discussion
Belgian Pavilion
Norwegian Pavilion
Oceans
Oceans
Unlocking the full potential of the blue economy for a sustainable future
18/01/2022, 15:00 - 17:00 GST (Dubai)
12:00 - 14:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
13:00 - 15:00 SAST (Cape Town)
06:00 - 08:00 EST (New York)
20:00 - 22:00 KST (Seoul)
19:00 - 21:00 CST (Beijing)
16:30 - 18:30 IST (New Delhi)
08:00 - 10:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
The Blue Economy will be an important driver of economic growth in the coming years, with a shift towards innovative sustainable solutions. Pioneering Sustainable Ocean Solutions will be key for a sustainable transformation of the Energy Industry. This event will bring together industry specialists, technology pioneers and sustainability leaders active in the blue economy.
Facilitated by
Norway Pavilion show
Panel discussion
DP World
All themes
Innovation Tour: BOXBAY High Bay Storage System
18/01/2022, 08:30 - 10:00 GST (Dubai)
05:30 - 07:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
06:30 - 08:00 SAST (Cape Town)
23:30 - 01:00 EST (New York)
13:30 - 15:00 KST (Seoul)
12:30 - 14:00 CST (Beijing)
10:00 - 11:30 IST (New Delhi)
01:30 - 03:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
It is no longer possible to register as this innovation tour is fully booked.
Want to discover all there is to know about a new technology designed to speed up, improve and automate the way shipping containers are stored, moved and shipped? Dubai-based port operator DP World has developed BOXBAY to do just this, saving both time and space.
BOXBAY is set to revolutionise the way containers are stored at ports. Its High Bay Storage (HBS) systems offer different storage and handling solutions based on a disruptive technology that significantly improves operations at container terminals. Instead of stacking containers directly on top of each other, which has been global standard practice for decades, BOXBAY places each container in an individual rack, so that everyone is directly accessible. These racks, which are eleven tiers high, increase storage capacity by 200 percent compared to conventional methods, which means they enable the same quantity of containers to be stored in less than a third of the currently required space.
Join this innovation tour to discover and understand all the advantages of BOXBAY:
- Massive reduction in space requirements
- Operational efficiency, no re-shuffling
- Ultra large container ship (ULCS) readiness
- Optimised CAPEX and OPEX
- Beneficial to staff health, safety and environment
Discover the BOXBAY 3D-experience: https://www.boxbay.com/#experience
World Expo
All themes
Guided Tour of World Expo 2020
18/01/2022, 18:30 - 22:00 GST (Dubai)
15:30 - 19:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
16:30 - 20:00 SAST (Cape Town)
09:30 - 13:00 EST (New York)
23:30 - 03:00 KST (Seoul)
22:30 - 02:00 CST (Beijing)
20:00 - 23:30 IST (New Delhi)
11:30 - 15:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
It is no longer possible to register as this innovation tour is fully booked.
Salua Daghay and her husband Koenraad (both highly educated scientists) from Unveil Arabia will take you on a guided tour of World Expo in Dubai, so you can fully appreciate the sustainability, innovation and technology being demonstrated. Unveil Arabia is the exclusive accredited provider of architecture and VIP tours at the World Expo site.
During the guided tour, you will visit:
- Terra – the Sustainability Pavilion: a 100% self-sustaining building in the middle of a desert with 1,055 solar panels
- Sweden Pavilion: the only pavilion made entirely of wood
- Netherlands Pavilion: featuring a circular climate system that harvests water and energy, manufactures rain and produces food
- Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA): the future of energy-efficient homes
- DP World: this provider of smart logistics solutions demonstrates the connectivity in movement of cargo around the world
- EPPCO: alternative energy
- Philippines Pavilion: coral reefs and marine conservation
- Germany Pavilion: energy, cities of the future and biodiversity
- Baden-Württemberg Pavilion: a timber hybrid building that’s all about the importance of sustainability its innovative strength
Note: The guided tour is limited to 15 persons. The route can vary depending on time and availability of the pavilions.
Online only
All themes
Accelerating the adoption of Natural Capital Accounting
18/01/2022, 11:45 - 13:15 GST (Dubai)
08:45 - 10:15 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
09:45 - 11:15 SAST (Cape Town)
02:45 - 04:15 EST (New York)
16:45 - 18:15 KST (Seoul)
15:45 - 17:15 CST (Beijing)
13:15 - 14:45 IST (New Delhi)
04:45 - 06:15 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Nature and the “services” it provides support many aspects of human well-being. However, the value these contribute to the economy are not recorded in indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Governments, the private sector and the general public now recognise that sustainable management of environmental resources is essential for survival. The United Nations Secretary-General has called for new measures to quantify nature’s value and include it in GDP, to eliminate glaring blind spots in how we measure economic prosperity and progress.
This calls for Natural Capital Accounting (NCA), a calculation of the total stocks and flows of natural resources and services in a given ecosystem or region. To make this possible, the UN recently released the System of Environmental Economic Accounts for Environmental Accounting (SEEA-EA), and is urging member states and private organisations to start implementing it, as well as integrating the environment’s contribution to economy and well-being into decision making processes.
NCA is a rapidly emerging technology that encompasses many domains, including statistics, environmental science, social science and data science.
This session will explore how the SEEA EA international standard is being implemented on different continents, together with how it can form the basis for other sustainable initiatives in environmental reporting, green financing and decision making in general.
The following key questions will be addressed:
- Why do we need NCA to accelerate transition to a sustainable world?
- How can NCA support (or accelerate) other sustainability reporting initiatives such as SDG, CDB and UNCCD?
- How can emerging technologies and new data streams accelerate the mainstreaming of NCA?
- What are the bottlenecks in connecting information from accounts to the needs of decision makers and to public disclosure about the economy?
Facilitated by
Presentation

Alessandra Alfieri
United Nations Statistics Division
Chief of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Oceans
Oceans
Energy islands
18/01/2022, 13:00 - 15:00 GST (Dubai)
10:00 - 12:00 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
11:00 - 13:00 SAST (Cape Town)
04:00 - 06:00 EST (New York)
18:00 - 20:00 KST (Seoul)
17:00 - 19:00 CST (Beijing)
14:30 - 16:30 IST (New Delhi)
06:00 - 08:00 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
Energy islands are emerging in various forms. Why are these needed and how can they potentially contribute to a sustainable blue economy? Despite the fact that artificial islands have long been a controversial subject, they are now appearing to be important contributors in the transition to carbon-neutral.
Artificial “blue-green” energy islands could act as power hubs to serve communities and countries. Floating islands and renewable energy could fulfil the promise of ensuring access to affordable, reliable and sustainable modern energy for all. They could also support bringing together powerful partnerships and facilitate connections across diverse sectors.
This session will dive into details of real-life examples. Why and how will Belgium build its Energy Island? What is the concept behind the Danish energy offshore hub? How does this compare to natural islands?
Artificial structures might become indispensable for a sustainable future, whether as hubs, energy storage sites or energy production sites. This session will also look into what is possible today and how we could potentially proceed in the near future.
Presentation

Alexander D’Hooghe
Chief Strategic Officer and Founding Partner, Organization for Permanent Modernity and Associate Professor, MIT
Alexander D’Hooghe is Associate Professor at MIT and Chief Strategic Officer and Founding Partner of the design agency and think tank, ORG Permanent Modernity based in Brussels and New York, which is active internationally in systems, urbanism and architecture. He has published internationally, notably with ‘the Liberal Monument’ (Princeton, Fall 2010) and with recent papers in relevant journals in Germany, Israel, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the USA, etc. His urban designs and analyses have included sites in New York City, Shenzhen, Belgium, The Netherlands, Iceland, South-Korea, Malawi, Ghana, parts of Russia, etc.
His expertise is regularly engaged in large multi-functional infrastructure projects and masterplans such as the current resiliency plan developments with coastal design and multifunctional offshore infrastructures in the North Sea as well as new architectural typologies in the canal district of Brussels that mixes education and the arts, with manufacturing, commercial, residential and public spaces. He serves as the director of the advisory committee in Amsterdam to develop meaningful infrastructure to connect the banks of the IJ river. Additionally, he is commissioned to support long-term development plans for Malawi’s urban and rural agricultural and industrial development, focusing on land use efficiency, infrastructural connectivity, environmental sensitivity and diverse economic productivity.
Alexander was formerly the director of MIT Centre For Advanced Urbanism (CAU), which focuses on the large-scale, complex urban issues of our time. D’Hooghe obtained a PhD from the Berlage Institute in 2007with T.U. Delft, published as the book ‘The Liberal Monument’ (Princeton Press, 2010). He previously obtained a Master’s degree in Urban Design from Harvard in 2001, and a Master’s degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Leuven in 1996. He worked with among others Rem Koolhaas and Marcel Smets.
All themes
Watching our forests: kickstarting the conservation 2.0 tech revolution
18/01/2022, 14:00 - 15:30 GST (Dubai)
11:00 - 12:30 CET/WAT (Brussels, Nigeria)
12:00 - 13:30 SAST (Cape Town)
05:00 - 06:30 EST (New York)
19:00 - 20:30 KST (Seoul)
18:00 - 19:30 CST (Beijing)
15:30 - 17:00 IST (New Delhi)
07:00 - 08:30 BRT (Rio de Janeiro)
In the decade 2000-2020, the world lost 10% of its tree cover. However, this plainly visible reduction is only one part of a bigger story. Loss of primary, dense natural forest to plantations and/or invasive species is also damaging and not always clear to see. As these forests disappear, local ecosystem and soil health deteriorate, water tables become depleted and desertification prevails. Not only does this affect the climate, it also impacts the lives and livelihoods of all those who live in the region.
The first step to averting catastrophe, while directly contributing to SDG 15 (concerning life on land), is identifying what’s happening. If we can map the status of natural forest ecosystems and their health, we can create effective strategies for their restoration and management. When achieved, this contributes to better climate resilience for local communities, directly contributing to SDGs 1, 2, 3 and 13 for rural and indigenous communities.
The challenge requires detailed information. How do we distinguish between natural healthy forests and monoculture plantations? How can we tell when a forest has been overrun by invasive species? How do we tell when a forest is crossing the tipping point from healthy to unhealthy? When does individual tree loss add up to the erosion of an ecosystem as a whole? And what are the primary causes of declining forest health, are they degradation or deforestation?
Mapping all these factors is becoming increasingly possible thanks to remote sensing tools and platforms such as Global Forest Watch, combined with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies which glean insights from data collected via satellites and drones.
This session will delve into how various technologies can be leveraged to create effective strategies for forest restoration.