The Virtual Island Summit, hosted by Island Innovation, is a virtual summit aiming to bring together experts from around the world and discuss with them the best sustainable practices and the most relevant issues for island communities.
What does a community living on an island in the Pacific Ocean, one from the Caribbean, one from South Asia or one from the North Sea have in common? Besides all living on islands, all those communities are already suffering the effects of climate change and this is why it is very important for them to share with one another their best practices and strategies for sustainability.
Building digital bridges between far-flung islands, it sounds so much needed nowadays when they are all facing similar challenges, and this is exactly what the Virtual Island Summit aims to do.
The summit will start on October 6th until the 10th, 2019. It will be “zero-carbon”, as all the sessions will be hosted online and viewers will be able to watch it from their offices or homes. The event has a vision of a more sustainable world, and welcomes anyone interested to be a part of this unique project that is the ‘Virtual Island Summit’.
The list of speakers includes former Australian Senator Christine Milne from Tasmania, who was the second woman to lead an Australian political party, Godfrey Baldacchino, a world-renowned academic in Island Studies at the University of Malta, James Stockan, leader of the Orkney Islands Council, Laura Watts author of “Energy at the End of the World: an Orkney Islands Saga”, and Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Other speakers will include representatives from places as diverse as Fiji, Jamaica, Greenland, Madagascar, the Isle of Man, Mauritius, Taiwan, Tierra del Fuego, Cape Verde, and Japan.
Panels’topics from the conference include sustainable development, geopolitics, cultural preservation, journalism, communications and other topics pertinent to all island communities.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Artificial Intelligence: At the Intersection of Innovation, Technology and Talent — WCIT 2019
Sustainable Products from the EMRG Conference
Former Prime Minister of Aruba Mike Eman, who will also be speaking at the summit, greeted the launch of the Summit with enthusiasm saying: “The Virtual Island Summit is bringing together island communities from around the world with a shared purpose of making their islands more sustainable, more prosperous and securing well-being for all of their citizens. This is a fantastic opportunity to exchange information between islands facing similar challenges and opportunities, and I am looking to sharing my own experiences and learning from all attending.”
Island Innovation’s Founder James Ellsmoor said: “The Virtual Island Summit will recreate an in-person conference experience to the extent possible, maximizing opportunities to exchange information between attendees. Not only that, but we are avoiding greenhouse gas emissions by moving to an online platform – demonstrating how technology can now be used to eliminate the need for much business travel.”
If you wish to attend the Island Summit, you are still in time to signup, by filling this form.
In the cover picture: An Island in the Pacific Ocean. Photo Credit: Unsplash
EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com.