Directors, Head office staff and focal points of the Bonn Alliance © DIE
On 25 June 2019, the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research presented its major joint project in Bonn to representatives from science, business, politics and society: the Innovation Campus Bonn (ICB). The Innovation Campus Bonn is to become an integrative platform for society as a whole to work towards a sustainable future.
In addition to the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), the University of Bonn, the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University (UNU-EHS), the Center for Development Research (ZEF), the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) and the Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences (H-BRS) are involved in the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research.
At the kick-off event, representatives from federal and state ministries as well as the Lord Mayor of the City of Bonn wished the project every success. In an ensuing panel discussion, the directors of the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research answered questions from the audience. Imme Scholz, acting director of DIE, emphasized the unique selling point of the ICB: the mixture of UN organizations based in Bonn combined with numerous activities of the City of Bonn, the University of Bonn with its long tradition covering a broad spectrum of topics, numerous non-university research institutions and NGOs. She stressed that all participating institutions look at the topic of sustainability from a different perspective and contribute their interdisciplinary approaches and international networks.
The ICB formally started its scientific work with three workshops in the afternoon. The workshops focused on the concept of sustainability, climate migration and digitisation in the health sector. Their aim was to exchange information on existing activities and fields of work and to engage in dialogue with representatives from civil society organisations. The participants also discussed possible links within the thematic fields for joint work within the framework of the ICB.
In the morning, the day had begun with a lecture by Achim Steiner, Head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), on the implementation of Agenda 2030 at the University of Bonn at the invitation of the Bonn Alliance for Sustainability Research. Read more about this event and listen to his wishes for the major project.
Photographic impressions of the launch can be found here.
