Session 8: Supporting the implementation of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism – the way forward for joint action
Wednesday, 6 June 2018
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Conference Room 4, UNHQ
Official meeting
Statements
Statements
Session 8
This session will present a number of initiatives from across the world that support the science-based, solution-oriented, multi-stakeholder and collaborative approach of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM) including discussions on broadening their impacts and making them self-sustaining.
Co-Chaired by:
- H.E. Mr. Juan Sandoval-Mendiolea, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations
- H.E. Dr Toshiya Hoshino, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
Moderator: Ms. Heide Hackmann, Executive Director, International Council for Science (ICSU)
Panelists
● Mr. Alfred Watkins, Chair, Global Solutions Summit, USA
● Ms. Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Vienna, Austria
● Mr. Dirk Fransaer, Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC), and Managing Director VITO, Brussels, Belgium
● Mr. Rafat Al-Akhal, Pathways for Prosperity: Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development
Dr. Dirk Fransaer
Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC), and Managing Director VITO, Brussels, Belgium
Dirk Fransaer is managing director of VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, the largest research institute in Belgium in the field of sustainable production and cleantech. Prior to joining VITO, he worked as an assistance professor at the university of Ghent in the field of hydraulics research, at Baxter, a large US pharmaceutical company, on artificial organs and for 13 years in the field of aerial and satellite remote sensing. He is author and co-author of more than 30 scientific papers published in national and international journals. Dirk Fransaer is president of LIBOVITO, a joint venture between VITO and Antipollution in China, also vice-chairman of i-Cleantech, an initiative by the Flemish government to promote cleantech and the transition towards a sustainable society, president of the Audit Committee of the University of Antwerp and member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts.
Mr. Rafat Al-Akhal
Pathways for Prosperity: Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development
Rafat Ali Al-Akhali is Head of the Secretariat of the Blavatnik School's Pathways for Prosperity: Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development and Fellow of Practice – Strategic Projects at the Blavatnik School of Government. From 2017 to 2018, Rafat has managed the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development. Before joining the Blavatnik School, Rafat has served as Minister of Youth and Sports in the Government of Yemen, and prior to that was leading the Policy Reforms team at the Executive Bureau for Acceleration of Aid Absorption and Support for Policy Reforms.
