Sep 3 2008
More than 20 world experts on building sustainable cities - urban leaders and globalisation experts - will converge at Singapore from 21-22 October 2008 for the landmark conference, Futuropolis 2058. They will share creative insights and solutions to urban developments and problems that will affect cities in the future. World-renowned futurist and authority on Einstein's unified field theory, Dr. Michio Kaku, is the keynote speaker who will expound his views on how science and technological innovations revolutionise the future.
Dr Kaku, who holds the Henry Semat Chair in Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York, is the author of international best-sellers, Hyperspace and Visions: How Science Will Revolutionise the 21st Century. Drawing on his breadth of experience from having interviewed 150of the world's top scientists, many of whom are Nobel Laureates and directors of the largest scientific laboratories, Dr. Kaku will paint a vivid and compelling picture on how science and technology will reshape our cities and the way we live.
He will share his vision of how the job market will look like in the future, where “nanotechnology revolutionises material science, space travel, and medicine; where biotechnology allows us to grow human organs at will; and where artificial intelligence is found in hospitals, nursing homes, construction sites, and outer space.” He will also illustrate how advances in science and technology will reshape the world economy and how by ignoring that, a nation’s economy is doomed to collapse.
At Futuropolis 2058, other renowned experts from diverse fields will also explore critical issues and innovative solutions to create sustainable urban environments as the world gears up for a record global population of 9.2 billion by 2050, amidst dwindling resources and worsening climatic conditions. This will be of particular interest for Asia, as it braces itself for a massive urban explosion when the number of urban dwellers doubles by 2030.
The experts will focus on five themes that pertain to creating sustainable urban environments through innovation at the conference:
- City management and long-term planning for megacities of the future
- Transportation and water in the next 50 years
- Alternative energy usage
- Next-generation networking for the global citizen
- Living spaces for future “work-live-play”
Other eminent specialists who will be speaking at Futuropolis 2058 include:
- Mr Gordon Bell, principal researcher at Microsoft Research;
- Professor Charles Zukoski, Chairman of A*STAR’s Science and Engineering Research Council
- Professor Ellen Brennan-Galvin from Yale University, who is the former Chief of Population Policy at the United Nations;
- Richard Register, President of US-based Ecocity Builders;
- and technology experts from Fortune 500 companies - Google, Nokia, Sony, CISCO - and other progressive companies such as Vestas, Cemex and Nanosolar .
Futuropolis 2058 is held to mark the grand opening of Fusionopolis, a “world-within-a-city” where a community of diverse talent meet, interact and work towards creating an innovative new world through science, technology and enterprise.
In the same spirit of promoting a meeting of great scientific minds across disciplines to create the future, Futuropolis 2058 aims to create a platform for experts to share their perspectives on how advances in science and technology will revolutionise the future. Futuropolis 2058 is itself a collaborative effort between Singapore’s leading public research organisation, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) and the Fulbright Academy for Science and Technology (FAST). This is FAST’s inaugural conference in Asia.
“Futuropolis 2058 is part of Singapore’s aspiration to be a global knowledge creation and innovation hub, a place where new ideas constantly bubble up and evolve into meaningful innovations to benefit society. The gathering of the various experts in Futuropolis 2058 will offer a rich diversity of critical insights and proven innovations for the development of sustainable cities of the future. Having transformed Singapore from a Third World to the most liveable city in Asia, Singapore as the venue for Futuropolis 2058 provides a visible model of what is possible and, hopefully, will inspire everyone to reach further and higher in their goals for the cities of the future,” said A*STAR Chairman, Mr Lim Chuan Poh.
Eric S. Howard, Executive Director of FAST, commented, “Futuropolis 2058is a unique platform for the first partnership between FAST and A*STAR as this global collaboration can revolutionise change and spur advancements in technology and development. With a think-tank of leading scientists, engineers and technology experts, the power of innovation can be phenomenal in transforming urban environments and enhancing living and working conditions for one and all in cities of the future all over the world.”