Beyond COVID-19, Innovative Education Creates Future Wellbeing


7th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals


Sub-Forum Topic: Beyond COVID-19, Innovative Education Creates Future Wellbeing


Forum Background Introduction:

The Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) was successfully launched in 2016. The STI Forum was convened by Mr. Munir Akram, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), who has appointed two co-chairs - Mr. Andrejs Pildegovičs, Ambassador of Latvia to the UN, and Mr. Mohammad Koba, Ambassador Chargé d'affaires of the Indonesian Mission to the United Nation. The first to fourth STI Forum were all held at the UN Headquarters in New York in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The STI Forum in 2020 was not held as scheduled due to the impact of COVID-19. The sixth annual STI Forum resumed in 2021, with more than 700 participants from more than 50 countries and international organizations discussing “Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development: Global Recovery under the COVID-19 and Effective Ways to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.


Forum Theme:

The seventh annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) will be held from 5 to 6 May 2022. Accordingly, the theme for the STI Forum 2022 will be: “Science, technology and innovation for building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The Forum will be convened by the President of ECOSOC H.E. Mr. Collen Vixen Kelapile who has appointed two co-chairs - H.E. Mr. Kennedy Godfrey Gaston, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations, and H.E. Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations. As per its mandate, the Forum will be organized by the UN interagency task team on STI for the SDGs (IATT), convened by UN-DESA and UNCTAD, and the 10-Member Group of high-level representatives appointed by the Secretary-General. As in previous years, the theme of the STI Forum will be closely aligned with that of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The HLPF in 2022 will review in-depth Sustainable Development Goals 4 on quality education, 5 on gender equality, 14 on life below water, 15 on life on land, and 17 on partnerships for the Goals.

International Mayers Communication Centre (IMCC) has been awarded the right to host the “Sustainable Development Goals 4 (SDGs4) on quality education” by the STI Forum. IMCC is co-organizing the “SDGs4 Quality Education” with the Chinese Elite Consortium (CEC). STI Forum will discuss the direction of education innovation during COVID-19, how digital education can achieve quality education, and how to share quality education resources with developing countries and relatively disadvantaged groups through technology based on the themes of the STI Forum. The STI Forum will also discuss how to promote equity in education to further ensure a sustainable development path for the whole society, bring benefits to more groups and accelerate the realization of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” together with the STI Forum.


Sub-Forum Topics Introduction:

1. Educational Equality

Educational inequity is perhaps the most serious educational problem facing the world. Education is a fundamental human right. Education has been shown to affect people's overall well-being, productivity, social capital, responsible citizenship, and sustainable behavior. Equitable distribution of education facilitates the creation of inclusive and equitable societies.

1. Should the policy address educational equality or educational equity?

2. What are the measurable standards and goals for educational equality?

3. How can individual efforts contribute to the achievement of educational equality?

    Proposed Guest Speakers

1. Dr. Henan Cheng: Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Education at Columbia University; Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education at Columbia University School of Education; Adjunct Professor in the Department of International and Intercultural Studies at Columbia University School of Education since 2012. Dr. Henan Cheng mainly focuses on international education, comparative education, and educational development and equity issues in China.

2. Dr. Thomas Bailey: Dean of the School of Education and Professor of Economics and Education at Columbia University; founded the Columbia University Center; a leading scholar in the fields of American community college, labor economics, and education policy research.

3. Dr. Chaohui Chu: Researcher at National Institute of Education Sciences; Vice President of The Chinese Association for Local Education History and Annals (CALEHA); Director of CALEHA branch; Academic Member of the Chinese Society of Education;

2. Education Entrepreneurship

In the post-epidemic era, the epidemic has changed the shape of education. Traditional education is being challenged like never before and the need for innovation is accelerating. A global educational transformation has emerged. Technological innovation drives a variety of digital education tools that are more equitable and conducive to sharing quality educational resources among developing countries and disadvantaged groups.

1. How to find new breakthroughs in education entrepreneurship?

2. How to balance business interests and sustainability in education entrepreneurship?

3. Metaverse + Education: What are the brand new opportunities? Guessing the direction of education in the era of the metaverse.

                Proposed Guest Speakers

1. Xingyu Wang: Co-founder & CEO of Beyond The City; graduated from Fudan University and New York University; Shanghai Charity Entrepreneurship Mentor; Selected in 2018 Forbes China 30 Under 30; selected in 2020 China Charity Show Charity Emerging Talent List and 2021 Gen.T Asia Emerging Pioneer Lis

2. Karen Nie: Founder of Mutual Up; Vice President of Piper China; Honorary graduate of Boston University Business School; Deputy Secretary of The Workers’ Association of China Children’s Press; founded two educational real estate companies in Boston in 2007.

3. Kexuan Xu: graduated from Fudan University and received her JD from Columbia University Law School, and is now a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. She is the director of the non-profit Light Aid Project and focuses on education and digital divide issues.


Forum Basic Information:

Time: May 6th, 7:00- 8:30 PM

Location: ZOOM

Hosting Organization: International Mayors Communication Centre


Organizers Structure:    

Position

Name

Duty

President

Lily.Jinlan

Responsible for guiding the work of the whole bureau

Vice Presidents

Jeremy Tang, Will Zhong

Responsible for coordinating and promoting the work of the Forum

Chief  Secretary

Chloe Xu

Responsible for managing and coordinating the work of the forum

Vice Secretary& Director of the Department of Operation

 Lucy Lai

Responsible for coordinating with various departments

Director of the Department of Business Development

Vincent Yuan

Responsible for business cooperation and guest invitation

Director of the Department of Event Planning

Lily Gao

Responsible for event planning and implementation

Director of the Department of Publicity

Vanessa Wang

Responsible for social media promotion and publicity cooperation


Forum Timeline:

 

1. Opening 7:00- 7:10 PM

The forum host conducts the opening ceremony, introducing the theme, topics, guest speakers, and timeline of the forum.

2. Guest Speech 7:10- 7:40 PM

Guest speakers conduct the speeches based on forum topics

Education Equality Guest Speech 7:10- 7:25 PM

Education Entrepreneurship Guest Speech  7:25- 7:40 PM

3. Forum Break 7: 40-7:50 PM

4. Round Table Discussion 7:50- 8:20 PM

Two guests speakers, one to two youth representatives, and one host together conduct a roundtable discussion around the topics of education.

a. Prepared questions

b. Open to the audience to ask questions (TBD)

5. Closing 8:20- 8:30 PM

  

Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum)
SDGs4 Quality Education” submitted by the Executive Committee

on March 29th, 2022

 

Contact Infomation:

IMCC Website: www.hk-imcc.com

IMCC Email Address: info@hk-imcc.com

IMCC Phone Number: 86-755-86100515

STI Forum Side Event Vice-Presidents: jeremy@hk-imcc.com, will@hk-imcc.com

STI Forum Side Event General Secretary: chloe@hk-imcc.com