SIBA has partnered with NASA, the International Society of Digital Earth (ISDE), and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to bring to Australia an immersive spatial industry master class, known as ‘Pivotal.’
Nations will select a top technologist, policy maker, and community leader, then send them to Brisbane as their ‘ambassadors’ to partake in an intensive 2 week programme. The world’s foremost thought leaders in the spatial industry will be brought in to impart cutting-edge knowledge on topics from remote sensing to geo-culture and economics.
The world faces many complex, unprecedented, and interrelated global challenges, so requires new decision-making tools and strategies to understand and solve them in a sophisticated and sustainable manner. In order to survive and thrive, each country will need to develop appropriate and future-orientated solutions at a high level of scientific sophistication. Each country will need to harness the geo-spatial information technology revolution for excellence in business and governance.
There will be a number of events leading up to Pivotal: On the 18th September, the Australian Embassy in Washington DC will be hosting a special promotional event for Pivotal. Attending this event will be White House staff, elite US scientists, and representatives of G20 nations participating in Pivotal. Three speakers at this Pivotal promotion are:
- Dr. Robert (Bob) Corell (climate change expert and founder of the US. Global Change Research Program) – Comprehending climate change science understanding and the impact of policy and technology.
- Dr Lee Schwartz (Geographer of the US. State Department and founder of the Humanitarian Information Unit) – Harnessing and developing informed analytics for global rapid response and monitoring.
- Dr Timothy Foresman (SIBA Chair of Spatial Information at QUT and former UNEP chief scientist) Australia’s pivotal Digital Earth initiatives connecting government with citizens and businesses for education and societal capacity building in the face of natural and human-induced change.
Pivotal will take place from 29th June to 10th July 2015 at the QUT Campus in Garden Grove Brisbane. The intensive two-week master class (including a one day executive summit), themed ‘Resilient and Rapid Response,’ will be attended by international political and business leaders and spatial information technologists. Delegates will come together to learn and share how to apply best methods and appropriate technology for spatial analytics and visualisation of complex information and big data to cutting-edge decision making processes within contemporary problems and scenarios.
For more information, visit SIBA’s Pivotal page.
