RMIT is a proud partner of the 2023 Japan-Australia Liveable and Wellbeing Forum being held on 30 January in Melbourne, hosted by NIKKEI, Japan's largest media group, in collaboration with The Smart City Institute of Japan (SCIJ).
The forum provides an opportunity to further strengthen the alliance between Japan and Australia (particularly in Victoria) in helping to facilitate social, business, and technological linkages.
The forum will bring together representatives from government and business, including the City of Melbourne, for the purpose of sharing insights into liveability, smart city indices and future cities.
The forum will focus on:
RMIT's Associate Professor Melanie Davern, Director of the Australian Urban Observatory and Acting Deputy Director of the Centre for Urban Research (the Southern Hemisphere's largest comprehensive urban research group) will present at the event.
Her research interests focus on liveability, community, and individual wellbeing with specific expertise in the development and use of indicators as a measurement tool for policy development, program evaluation and community engagement.
Takehiko Nagumo, a Senior Industry Fellow of RMIT's Centre of Urban Design has worked with The Smart City Institute of Japan to adapt the liveable city indices developed by Professor Davern, which the Japanese Government is now implementing across 27 of their major cities.
RMIT Associate Professor Chris Berg, Co-Director and co-founder of the RMIT Blockchain Innovation Hub, will present on The Digital CBD Roadmap for Melbourne, the vision for Melbourne to start moving towards a globally influential digital city. The report was released in November 2022.
The forum will also feature a joint presentation by Sumitomo Forestry Australia and NTT Urban Design about a net zero carbon building as a step toward the realization of a carbon-free society. The foothold for their joint project is a large-scale wooden office in Collingwood, with construction expected to be complete in August 2023.
MC: Ms. Natsuko Ogawa, Co-Chair, Australia Japan Society of Victoria
Leading Australian Japanese M&A Partner at Ashurst
Opening Remarks: Professor Calum Drummond, RMIT Vice President and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation
Greeting: Yoshihiro Hirata, Senior Managing Director, Nikkei Inc.
Greeting: Takehiko Nagumo, Executive Managing Director, SCI-Japan
Theme: "Co-Creating Liveable Well-Being Cities" – Australia and Japan
Speech 1: Liveablility Indicators Insight in Melbourne
Speaker: Dr. Melanie Davern, Associate Professor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) /Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor and Director, AUO (Australian Urban Laboratory), RMIT Centre for Urban Research Centre
Speech 2: Liveable Well-Being City Indicators – Japan's New Smart City Standard under the Digital Garden City Nation Initiative
Speaker: Takehiko Nagumo, Executive Managing Director, Smart City Institute Japan
Discussion: Global Alliance for Liveable Well-Being City Indicators
Panelists:
Theme: Urban decarbonization with open Innovation toward sustainable and zero-emission society
Moderator: Ms. Natsuko Ogawa, Co-Chair, Australia Japan Society of Victoria Leading Australian Japanese M&A Partner at Ashurst
12:50-13:00: Video by City of Osaka
About 45th anniversary of Sister City relationship with the City of Melbourne and introducing EV Bus system for coming EXPO 2025
Session 1: Japan's Presentation
Session 2: Discussion: Japan-Australia Open Innovation
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.
Acknowledgement of Country
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.