Home » SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Sorbonne University significantly contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG 9) by driving innovation in infrastructure through industry collaboration and research. Its interdisciplinary centres focus on sustainable transport, renewable energy, and information and communication technology (ICT), developing solutions like electric vehicles and smart city technologies. The university partners with industry to ensure practical application of research, while also emphasizing education and capacity building to prepare future leaders. Additionally, Sorbonne engages in global initiatives to address infrastructure needs in developing countries, ultimately empowering communities and fostering sustainable development.
The event discussed the future of cities in the context of eco-technological innovation, with a focus on smart and knowledge-based cities. It emphasized that economic imperatives must no longer outweigh ecological concerns in the face of the planet's environmental challenges. The city of the future, especially in the Anthropocene era, must redefine the concepts of intelligent, sustainable, and resilient urban living. Innovation in these cities depends on how various elements of the innovation ecosystem come together, just like in nature, where growth and sustainability are influenced by the surrounding conditions. The examples of South Korea and Morocco were highlighted as interesting case studies for integrating both ecological and technological dimensions in urban planning, showing the need for cities to balance these aspects for sustainable development .
Prof. Nathalie Martial-Braz and Prof. Aude-Solveig Epstein explored the environmental potential of new and digital technologies, such as AI, blockchain, and the digitization of the economy, questioning whether these technologies could help combat climate change. They consider the assumption that a transition from an oil-based economy to a decarbonized digital economy, particularly in the UAE, could support climate commitments made in international forums like COP. However, they raised concerns about the energy intensity of the current digital economy and whether it could deliver environmental benefits, depending on the energy sources used. The professors questioned the potential environmental gains of digital technologies, possible negative side effects like monopolies or shifts in the global economic order, and the legal role in ensuring these technologies contribute to climate goals. They also considered whether regulatory measures could force digital players to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.
Dr. Stéphane Desruelles, Associate Professor of Geography and Head of the Department of Geography & Planning at SUAD, organized an event aligned with SUAD’s scientific priorities, focusing on regional themes and supporting the government’s vision for global climate action. The event featured speakers from universities and industries in the UAE, the Gulf region, and abroad. It included four sessions: 'Earth Observation Systems/Robotics', 'Energy Transition', 'Adaptation to Climate Change', and 'Transition to Low Carbon, Healthy, and Resilient Cities'.
Léna Sasal, a PhD student at the Sorbonne Centre for Artificial Intelligence, worked on predicting time series to forecast future events based on past data. The team focused on using transformers, a type of algorithm, to apply in various fields, such as predicting temperature or earthquake probabilities. In collaboration with Total Energies, the project aimed to forecast oil production for the following day. The research resulted in a publication titled W-Transformers: A Wavelet-based Transformer Framework for Univariate Time Series Forecasting, which was presented at The International Conference on Machine Learning and Application in the Bahamas in December 2022.
This project is under the Chair of TotalEnergies, Sorbonne Centre for Artificial Intelligence, SUAD .
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