Policymakers, researchers and game changers from 22 countries will brainstorm on issues related to economy, trade, education, pollution, water management, emerging technologies, governance, cyber security, endangered languages, regional cooperation, human rights, women and media etc in 35 sessions.
Ali Rahmat
ISLAMABAD: What the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digital era is about? And how it has transformed society, and every strata of life?
Scholars, researchers, academics, policymakers and game changers will brainstorm on these burgeoning questions during the 22nd Sustainable Development Conference (SDC2019) that will kick off at a local hotel from December 3.
The three-day conference being organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) features over 35 panel discussions on economy, trade, mental health, education, air pollution, water management, youth and peace building, emerging technologies, women entrepreneurship, governance and accountability, cyber security, spaces for transgender, endangered languages, regional cooperation, human rights, skills development, women and media along.
In this smart age, the biggest question is how does one tackle the issues of sustainable development, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, water, energy, environment, gender equality, social justice to trade, economy, commerce, investment and technology. The conference will have dedicated sessions on key issues such as these along with many more overlapping sub-themes under the overarching theme and relevant to Asia and beyond.
In the plenary sessions, keynote speeches will be delivered by prominent scholars, experts and policy makers, as well as development practitioners under the overarching theme of “Sustainable Development in a Digital Society” inspired by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and digitalization as well as how human beings interact in the era of rapid revolution in technologies.
The speakers from 22 countries of Asia and other parts of the world will bring forth ideas how to cash in on the Fourth Industrial Revolution where artificial intelligence is playing a lead role in our lives. They will deliberate on the pros and cons of the fast-evolving scenario, which has brought about a massive change in social values; requires a different set of skills; and, new ways of understanding and operating on a day-to-day basis.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is about more than just technology-driven change; it is an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations to harness converging technologies in order to create an inclusive human-centred future.
The participants will share their researches, best practices, as well as thoughts, and analyze how barriers are being bridged with new technologies and artificial intelligence, new ways of working and interacting, and where are we headed from here. They will also share workable solutions to these emerging questions and a way forward to steer the Asian region out of old thinking.
Besides, the conference provides an interactive forum especially to students and new researchers to meet and interact with international experts and scholars and find relevant ideas and solutions in an atmosphere of sharing and exploring.
A peer reviewed anthology based on the conference papers presented during the 21st SDC held in 2018 along with other publications will be launched on the occasion.
SDPI will compile the policy recommendations from the 30 plus panels and plenary sessions which will be communicated to the respective ministries and at regional level institutions. The compiled recommendations along with detailed reports of the sessions will be published in a special edition of SDPI’s Research and News Bulletin.