In June 2024, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) will host a joint event aimed at showcasing innovation, connecting the private sector for sustainability and climate action, as well as advancing impact-driven public-private development partnerships. The event titled “Connecting for Development – Innovating for Impact” is a joint effort of the Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia and the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) of the Sustainable and Just Energy Transitions Unit.
This joint endeavour supports the spirit of collaboration and multilateral dialogue to foster networking, partnership building and mutual learning between the European business sector and the global network of UNIDO-supported start-ups. It aims to further advance the development of innovative solutions and identification of joint activities to scale up multi-stakeholder development cooperation activities. Entrepreneurs, corporates, government representatives and intermediary institutions from various countries will come together to share experiences, co-ideate solutions and explore cooperation modalities for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
SECOND REGIONAL CONFERENCE
The regional conference led by the UNIDO Regional Bureau for Europe and Central Asia is a platform for dialogue and partnership building with the group of new development partner countries in the European Union, including both the Organization’s Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovenia) and non-Member States (Estonia, Greece, Latvia Lithuania and Slovakia). The first regional conference, held on 6 and 7 October 2022, emphasized, among others, the need for closer engagement of the private sector of partner countries in UNIDO’s work. The second regional conference, therefore, aims at further exploring mutually reinforcing mechanisms and modalities, allowing businesses from the region to effectively engage in and benefit from bilateral and multilateral cooperation facilitated by UNIDO in the areas of sustainable, innovative and climate-neutral industrial development.
CLEANTECH DAYS 2024
Cleantech Days is the annual global forum event led by GCIP – one of the UNIDO flagship initiatives supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF). GCIP currently covers 16 countries, in which it supports the development and scale-up of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with clean technology solutions. The first edition of the Cleantech Days took place from 29 October to 3 November 2023 in Vienna in conjunction with the International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum. The event convened more than 120 participants representing 23 countries, including over 30 UNIDO-supported entrepreneurs. Building upon the success of the previous edition, the Cleantech Days 2024 aim at showcasing impactful solutions, connecting UNIDO-supported entrepreneurs with other businesses, financiers and investors, as well as providing a venue for networking, capacity-building, peer learning and impact-oriented collaboration.
JOINT EVENT STRUCTURE
The first two days of the event, 3 and 4 June 2024, will serve as a shared platform for the second regional conference and the Cleantech Days 2024, enabling participants of both events to engage in thematic discussions, co-ideation of solutions, partnership building, mutual learning and networking. The Cleantech Days will continue from 5 to 7 June 2024, engaging the community of UNIDO-supported climate-focused start-ups for presenting their solutions, showcasing pitching skills, celebrating the most inspiring innovators and connecting them to relevant stakeholders, including corporates and investors.
To further enhance the experience of event participants and provide additional networking opportunities, UNIDO is collaborating with the Vienna Business Agency within its ViennaUP 2024 – a decentralized start-up festival of entrepreneurship and innovation convening innovators from a wide range of industries, investors, technology scouts and other progress enablers from around the world.
INNOVATION SALON: LEARN, CONNECT, INSPIRE
On 3 June 2024, UNIDO, in collaboration with the World Summit Awards (WSA) will organize a dedicated session to facilitate the establishment of business-to-business connections between companies from development partner countries and start-ups invited by UNIDO and the WSA. The format will enable mutual learning and the co-ideation of solutions around a specific set of topics and challenges aligned with the mandate and service offer of UNIDO.
The event is open to a select number of start-ups participating in the ViennaUP 2024. Companies with expertise in climate or clean technologies that would like to join the session are invited to fill in the application form to register their interest. If the company profile fits the event topic and thematic areas, the event organizers will reach out with further information.
Application deadline: 15 May 2024 Apply now: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=MUlqQlzsy0-dEDNj69-SgHkM7gayaeBHlu8H7U8ozUFUN1NWWkQ3UVhHR05GNkMwTUxUSkJHV05aRC4u
