ICCSD convened the Second Session of the First Advisory Committee in Beijing on September 25 th . It applied "Cloud Communication" to exchange ideasonline and offline because of the pandemic.
The session included a brief summary on ICCSD's work in the previous year, the inauguration and certificate granting of the new members of the Advisory Committee. In addition, members focused on figuring out innovative and creative ways to continuouslypromote the global sustainable development in times of changes under the context of COVID-19. 15 experts from 10 countries attended the meeting and made speeches, including Xiao Lan, Executive Director of ICCSD, Hans d'Orville, Chairman of the ICCSD Advisory Committee, and formerAssistant Director-General for Strategic Planning of UNESCO, Charles Landry, the proposer and supporter of the Creative City concept, Carolina Quintana, acoordinator of UNCTAD Creative Economy Network, Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of Istituto Europeo di Design, Mehri Madarshahi, President of Global Culture Network, and former senior economic officer at the United Nations Secretariat/NY, Mugendi K.M'Rithaa, President Emeritus of the World Design Organization, and Zhu Xufeng, Executive Director of Institute for Sustainable Development Goals, Tsinghua University.
Xiao Lan, Executive Director of ICCSD,addresses in the session
Xiao Lan said that COVID-19 has not only endangered the world, but also provided various industries with more opportunities for development. Services driven by digital technology have positive effects on the work and life during the pandemic, including telemedicine, online education, shared platform, Office Automation and cross-boarder e-commerce. In his opinion, it is certain that the digital economy would be a crucial growth area in the next stage. In the future, we will face a new era which is rapidly changing when we develop the economy. Thus, innovative thinking modes and creative solutions are urgently needed to seize the opportunities and handle the challenges of the era. ICCSD, as an international platform which advocates advancing sustainable development in a creative way, will play a bigger role in the nearer future when the previous system is shocked and a new turning point emerges. The center would be committed to collecting and studying creative plans across the world, reforming systems, innovating science and technology, and developing culture in a sustainable way.
During the session, Hans d'Orville, Chairman of the ICCSD Advisory Committee, and the former Assistant Director-Genenral for Strategic Planning of UNESCO, announced that Professor Xiang Yong, Vice Director of Institute for Cultural Industries, Peking University, became a new member of the Advisory Committee of ICCSD.
Committee members from 10 countries attend the session online
Xiao Lan, Executive Director of ICCSD, awarded Professor Xiang Yong a certificate of the committee member.
Hans d'Orville, Chairman of the ICCSD Advisory Committee, and former Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning of UNESCO, presides overthe session
Hans d'Orville introduced the history of ICCSD, main programs in 2019 and work plans in 2020. He presented that ICCSD had conducted practical and abundant work in investigation and research, advertising and communication, and international cooperation in the previous year. ICCSD has expanded creative projects and cases after a successful pilot program, encouraged professionals across the world to discuss the construction of creative cities, and provided a platform for countries to exchange cultures, share experience and achieve win-win cooperation. It has cooperated with more than 20 news agencies and gathered plenty of experience in the field. It has participated in over 10 international events and reached cooperation intentions with more than 30 institutions. Hans d'Orville said that ICCSD hopes to deepen the cooperation with the UNESCO, establish more platforms for communication and collaboration, widen the channels for committee members to exchange ideas and share experience, focus on social media operations and reports, and provide more examples of creative cases and achievements for committee members. It will also nurture talents and blend the concept of sustainable development into works of young designers in the world. He said, "We hope experts would continue to pay close attention to ICCSD and learn about the highlights of our work in the future."
Xiao Lan, Executive Director of ICCSD, issues Advisory Committee Member Certificate to Pro. Xiang Yong, Vice Dean of Institute for Cultural Industries, Peking University （From left to right are Chen Ping, Xiao Lan and Xiang Yong)
In the meeting, participants highly recognized and supported ICCSD's achievements. They indicated that they would coordinate more resources and projects from various fields and discuss further cooperation with ICCSD. Concentrating on three topics, experts conducted further discussion on the pandemic's impacts on globalization, the creative economy and urban development, as well as the corresponding innovative measures during the consulting and discussion. The three topics were "New Thinking under New Normal: the Impacts of COVID-19 on Globalization and the Creative Economy", "Innovative and Creative Measures are Adopted in Cities to Curb the Pandemic" and "Research, Advertisement and Digital Tools Advancing SustainableDevelopment". Professionals believed that the outbreak put forward new requirements for creativity, design and sustainable development. They realized the significance of creating, building, sharing and discussing jointly. Facing the pandemic, countries should cooperate with each other, promote multilateralism and globalization, express themselves, and respond to issues confronting them in more dignified, creative and fairer ways, as well ascontribute to the world's recovery and development. In addition, experts mentioned that countries are supposed to try their best to overcome difficulties and achieve the sustainable goals before 2030 although the pandemic's influence is tremendous.
The first Advisory Committee of ICCSD was established in April 2019. The committee includes nearly 30 members from 13 countries who come frominternational organizations, research institutes, social organizations and private companies and they engage in creativity economy, urban development,industrial planning, artificial intelligence, network technology, sustainable development or communication, etc. The session gathered opinions of experts from various countries, offering intellectual support in order to achieve the sustainable goals on time.
