Speakers of SPIEF have announced that the Global Forum on Nature-Like and Convergent Technologies will be convened in Russia

May 28, 2018

On May 24th, the SPIEF panel session titled “Nature-Like Technologies: Responding to Major Challenges” was held, during which the speakers have announced that the Global Forum on Nature-Like and Convergent Technologies for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) will be convened on 27-29 September 2018 in Sochi.

The twenty-first century has presented mankind with a number of major challenges that threaten the sustainable development of civilization. In order to overcome these challenges, new approaches to development must be found, and the world must transition to new ways of producing and consuming energy. One of the possible solutions is the development of nature-like technologies, which include technologies that reproduce the systems and processes of living nature as technical systems and technological processes integrated into natural resource management. These are developed and implemented to restore the balance between the biosphere and the technosphere that humans have disrupted.

Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, 3D printing, etc. are changing society at an ever-increasing pace. The convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science (NBIC) has the potential to create machines, tools, methods and business models that can significantly enhance economic performance, while reducing or even reversing harmful environmental impact. Among others, augmenting human performance, reducing environmental pollution and rebalancing natural cycles and processes is at the core of NBIC convergence. This fusion of new technologies is blurring the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological spheres and will fundamentally change the way we live and work in the coming decades.

The Global Forum on Nature-Like and Convergent Technologies for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) will bring together various stakeholders, such as experts on naturally-based and convergent technologies, representatives from governments, international development organization, financial development institutions, the private sector and civil society to share best practice and discuss the key issues:

• What are the key concepts and issues behind nature-like and convergent technologies: current situation and future prospects?
• What are the main priorities in the field of nature-like technologies?
• What is the fundamental difference that sets a nature-like technosphere apart?
• What is the impact of nature-like technologies on the social and cultural challenges facing society?
• What are the barriers and policy implications to the uptake of nature-like and convergent technologies in developing countries?
• What is the potential of nature-like and convergent technologies for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related SDGs?

The Global Forum is organized under the project proposed by the National Research Centre “Kurchatov Institute”, in cooperation with the Government of the Russian Federation and UNIDO, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assignment №PR-1500 of 29 July 2016.

If interested in participation or cooperation opportunities, please forward your inquiries to these email addresses: NB.convergent.technologies@gmail.com, itpo.moscow@unido.org.

Presentation on the Forum can be found here.

Source: SPIEF
Photo by: https://forumspb.tassphoto.com/album/388