Australia will host the World Resources Forum Asia-Pacific for the first time in June through a university collaboration that will see Australian governments and industry focus on new strategies for sustainable wealth creation.
The University of Technology Sydney and SMaRT@UNSW want the event to unite business, industry, government and researchers in designing an action plan that will safeguard a sustainable Australian economy.
Co-event organiser and UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures researcher Associate Professor Damien Giurco said Australia’s old ways of generating wealth were stalling and that entirely new approaches to product design, manufacturing, waste management and sustainable enterprise must be drawn up.
“We have lived off the sheep’s back and we have dug up and sold much of our mineral wealth without investing in the future,” Professor Giurco said.
“Now it’s time to invest in and drive new kinds of enterprise that puts innovation in action to deliver a smarter and more economically resilient Australia.”
UTS has for many years invested in research in sustainable resources, transport, energy and policy and is an advocate for a suite of business strategies fostering a ‘circular economy’ one in which the standard operating model is ‘take, make and recreate’ rather than the wasteful ‘take-make-dispose’.
“Apart from reducing land fill and pollution, circular economy strategies provide greater resource productivity, access to new markets, utilise new technologies and foster new kinds of collaboration, production and reduction in consumption,” Prof Giurco said.
“Australia needs to be a regional leader in sustainable business, exporting knowledge and technology rather than relying on volatile demand for our raw materials – these are some of the urgent issues UTS speakers will cover during the forum.”
The three-day program, held from June 1, includes keynote presentations from industry, key members of government, as well as academic experts from Japan, Korea, India, US, Europe and Australia.
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