The High-Level Session on Transitions: the way towards a Digital, Green, Social, Just world
TIME
Thursday 21 September
09.00 – 10.40
LOCATION
AGORA
ORGANISER
DESCRIPTION
The High-level session aims to explore the interconnectedness of the Digital, Green, Social, Just transitions and discuss strategies for achieving a sustainable, inclusive, and just future. The session will feature a keynote address from a representative of the European Commission, highlighting their perspectives on the topic.
Session Objectives:
- Examine the interplay between digital transformation, environmental sustainability, social inclusion, and justice.
- Discuss the challenges and opportunities in transitioning towards a digital, green, social, and just future.
- Share best practices, success stories, and lessons learned from experts in the field.
- Foster collaboration and generate actionable ideas to drive meaningful change.
AGENDA
08:30 – 09:00 Registration
09:00 -09:05 Welcome address – Artur Serra (i2Cat), Fernando Vilariño (CVC), Fran Iglesias Gracia (Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus), Evdokimos Konstantinidis (ENoLL Chair) and Martina Desole (ENoLL)
09:05 – 09:10 – Institutional address – Liliana Arroyo Moliner, Director General for Digital Society, Generalitat de Catalunya, Government of Catalonia
09:10 – 09:20 – Opening remarks and Introduction to the conference – Evdokimos Konstantinidis (ENoLL Chair)
09:20 – 10:00 – Keynote Speech – Toñi Caro (Senior Researcher i2CAT Foundation, Digital Society Technology Unit, Associate Professor & Director of the International Research Project Office VIU)
10:00 – 10:10 – High level speaker – Veronica Manfredi (Director for Zero Pollution and Green Cities, European Commission) (in Video)
10:10 – 10:20 – High level speaker – Giancarlo Caratti di Lanzacco (Joint Research Centre, European Commission)
10:20 – 10:40 – Closing remarks
SPEAKERS
Liliana Arroyo Moliner
Director General of Digital Society, Government of Catalonia
Liliana Arroyo Moliner
Director General of Digital Society, Government of CataloniaBorn in Barcelona (Barcelonès) in 1985. She holds a degree in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, a PhD in Sociology from the University of Barcelona and is a specialist in Digital Social Innovation. She has been Head of Innovation in the Digital Technology Societies division at the i2cat Foundation and a researcher at the Institute for Social Innovation, Esade. Her background is in research, teaching and popularisation. She has been a member of research teams in projects in various areas of Sociology and led the chapter on children in the Government of Catalonia’s Charter for Digital Rights and Responsibilities. She has also been a member of several advisory boards in cultural and third sector organisations and has a decade of experience as an independent consultant. She has contributed to media outlets including Ara, El Periódico and El País and to programmes on RAC1 and TV3. She has also brought out the essay Tu no ets la teva selfie. 9 secrets digitals que tothom viu i ningú explica (You are not your selfie. Nine digital secrets that everyone knows and no one explains) and recently the book Benvingut metavers? (Welcome metaverse?) on the value of presence in the digital era.
Evdokimos Konstantinidis
President, European Network of Living Labs, Thess-AHALL Researcher,
Evdokimos Konstantinidis
President, European Network of Living Labs, Thess-AHALL Researcher,Dr Evdokimos Konstantinidis is the leader of the Assistive Technologies and Silver Science Research Group in the Lab of Medical Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He received the Diploma in electronic engineering from the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, in 2004, the M.Sc. degree in medical informatics in 2008 from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and the Ph.D. degree in the Laboratory of Medical Physics of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2015. His research interests lie predominately in the area of medical informatics, particularly within assistive technologies (silverscience, silvergaming, mobile health)
Martina Desole
Director ENoLL
Martina Desole
Director ENoLLMartina Desole is the Director of ENoLL, the European Network of Living Labs, based in Brussels, promoting globally the Living Lab concept and methodology and the Network of our certified Members. She has a degree in International Law and a Postgraduate in European Policies. Martina is an expert in European policies and programs for research and innovation, has been officially appointed by the Ministry of Research, Education and University as the National Contact Point of the European Commission in Italy, for Industrial Technologies (Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Advanced Manufacturing and Processing, and Biotechnology) since 2002. She has been working in the field of science diplomacy and promotion of research and innovation, helping researchers and entrepreneurs to find a way to be funded by Europe for their ideas, and Europe to implement International Cooperation policies in science and innovation with other countries.
Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at the Computer Vision Center and Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science UAB
Fernando Vilariño
Associate Director at the Computer Vision Center and Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science UABI give lectures about Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Multimedia Systems. My research has been linked to different areas Artificial Intelligence, particularly in Computer Vision, with a special attention to Medical Imaging, fieldwork in which I have developed different projects together with paramount hospitals and companies. My work has been published in the main Journals and Conferences of the area and I have also contributed to a number of patents in the field. During the last years, I have participated in the design of different initiatives, both at local and international level, with the aim of developing novel paradigms of digital social innovation. I have led the implementation of a model of Living Lab that transforms Libraries into actual innovation arenas, by exploring how technology transforms the cultural experience of people. Through this initiative I have had the chance to participate in different events and invited talks related to the use of ICT in the context of Culture. My main expertise is centered around: - Models of Governance of Living Labs and 4-helix instruments. - Innovation in Libraries, Museums and the cultural field in general. - Artificial Intelligence and ICT tools. I have been awarded with the Spanish Government Ramon y Cajal Grant (2010), Google Academy Award for my research (2014), and the Barcelona Mobile Week Award for the @BrossaInedit project (2017). I coordinate the ENoLL Action-oriented Task Force on Social Impact of AI and Living Labs as Regulatory Learning Tools.
Artur Serra
i2CAT deputy Director, AOTF Social Innovation & Digital Rights lead
Artur Serra
i2CAT deputy Director, AOTF Social Innovation & Digital Rights leadArtur Serra Hurtado (1954), Alicante (Spain). Deputy Director of the Foundation i2cat Foundation, research and innovation centre about the Internet. PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Barcelona, specialised in technological cultures. In 2006, launched the Cultural Ring, the first experimental network bandwidth for the cultural sector, connecting cultural centers in Catalonia and around the world, including Latin America through the Anilla Cultural Latinoamericana. Interested in the connection between the technology and the citizenry, since 1995 he developed some projects design and launched the first citizen networks in Spain and Europe (BCNet, Ravalnet, …) culminating them in the organisation of the First World Congress Citizens Network (Barcelona 2000). Currently, his line of research focuses on the design and implementation of living labs, new innovation structures open to the entire citizenry. In 2007 he launched the Citilab, the first European citizen lab.
Fran Iglesias Gracia
General Manager at Fundación Épica La Fura dels Baus
Fran Iglesias Gracia
General Manager at Fundación Épica La Fura dels BausExperienced Telecommunication Engineer, Researcher and Entrepreneur. Convinced that real horizontal collaboration between Science, Technology and Humanities is the only opportunity for disruptive research and innovation, and Creativity the best catalyser.
Giancarlo Caratti di Lanzacco
Chief Executive Officer Crossmedia Europe and Senior Advisor at the EC
Giancarlo Caratti di Lanzacco
Chief Executive Officer Crossmedia Europe and Senior Advisor at the ECGiancarlo Caratti di Lanzacco has been working at the European Commission (EC) during most of his professional career until September 2021, when he kept a senior advisory role at the EC and joined Crossmedia Europe, a new company promoting dissemination of art and culture via digital and web technologies, which builds on CT Crossmedia’s success worldwide in the production of digital immersive exhibition. His last assignment at the EC was Head for Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Unit, which manages the EC’s intellectual properties and promotes innovation via technology transfer. This Unit was integrated in JRC’s “Competence” Directorate, where both the European Bauhaus and foresight programme were initiated. In 2013 Mr Caratti was appointed as Deputy Commissioner General for the EU participation in the World Expo Milano 2015 and Head of the relevant EU task force. In his previous assignments, Mr Caratti's educational background is on mechanical engineering with specialisation on energy systems. Before joining the Commission, he worked as researcher and teaching assistant at the Faculties of Engineering of Florence and Pisa and spent one year as visiting scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology to carry out research on energy modelling. He also worked for two years at Techint, Italy's largest private engineering company based in Milan. Mr Caratti has over 60 publications in international conferences, journals, etc. and is editor of various technical books.
Veronica Manfredi
Director for Zero Pollution and Green Cities, European Commission
Veronica Manfredi
Director for Zero Pollution and Green Cities, European CommissionIn my over 20 years of service at the European Commission I have helped to reform EU passenger & package travellers’ rights, modernise e-commerce, design a EU-wide collective redress mechanism for consumers, conceive the EU’s Zero Pollution Action Plan, keep the need for water-smart solutions high on the agenda of policy-makers, businesses & civil society representatives….and much more ☺️ Ready for Green Deal 2.0 for a fairer, greener and inclusive world.
Keynote Speaker
Toñi Caro
Senior Researcher i2CAT Foundation
Toñi Caro
Senior Researcher i2CAT FoundationAs an entrepreneurial and innovative thought leader, I offer more 25-years of experience in academic research, policy analysis, and strategy design. Throughout these professional experiences I have acquired advanced proficiency in a variety of highly transferable skills, including partnership agreements, project management, stakeholder engagement and event coordination. Some of my proudest career achievements include: • Spearheading profound and far-reaching change management process that resulted in 87% increase of research and innovation funding for internationalisation activities since 2013 at a non-research intensive middle size university. • Played a key role in building trust and interdisciplinary collaboration amongst researchers, as evidenced by leading deployment of five research platforms that included more than 1.3K external stakeholders. • Serving as an internationalisation subject matter expert for a number of networks and initiatives organised by the European Commission and other international networks and bodies. Equally important is the fact that over the course of my career, I have proven myself to be a prolific writer and researcher as author of several peer-reviewed publications on a diverse range of social issues related to internationalisation, higher education, and sustainability. At the same time, I am a proactive communicator, skilled analyst, and pragmatic problem solver. As a result, I am poised to quickly build rapport and trust with partners to expedite attainment of short and long-term goals, priorities, and objectives.