GUIDE-days: Business 4 Biodiversity
The Faculty of Science at the University of Gothenburg offers business leaders and professionals opportunities to meet with strong academic research groups and engage in explorative collaborations. Business 4 Biodiversity is a two-day lunch-to-lunch event at Lindholmen Conference Centre, Gothenburg, from 12 – 13 September 2023. The event will be held in English.
The recent success of climate impact assessments in guiding investment decisions and public policy towards more climate-friendly outcomes has generated enormous interest in applying similar methods for addressing the human-induced biodiversity crisis. How can we support and accelerate this transition?
Current biodiversity assessments are typically data-deficient, inhibiting our capabilities to predict the impact of human activities on our ecosystems. Hence, most guiding instruments for preventive, restorative, or compensatory actions remain vague and without clear expectations. At the same time, new and cost-effective biological monitoring and assessment methods have been developed in academic research. These technologies are ready to be used in biodiversity assessments and have the potential to improve scenario forecasts applied by the industry.
During GUIDE-days, we will explore the application potential of new biodiversity assessment methods in various industrial sectors, especially in the wind energy sector. Elaborating on how biodiversity research can contribute to company-relevant solutions will result in potential pilot projects and ideas for conceptual initiatives.
Wind power is one of the most essential energy sectors prospected to potentially replace fossil fuels. In Sweden, wind power is already well established on land and may soon become very common off shore. It is possible to make wind energy environmentally beneficial on land and at sea. GUIDE-days aims to explore how industrial leaders in wind park development can collaborate with academic researchers and government bodies to protect the biodiversity of our ecosystems. Confirmed speakers from the industry include representatives from OX2, SR Energy, Cloudberry, Ecogain and Svensk vindenergi.
Programme
Day I
13.00-17.00 Short session with plenary talks
Welcome & introduction
Session 1: Networks to support biodiversity and industrial collaborations
Session 2: How to make wind power nature positive at land and in the sea
Coffe break
Session 3: Business models supporting biodiversity - examples from the energy transition
Session 4: Biodiversity data labs
17.00-19.00 Mingle session with a light dinner to find matching partners for the meetings on day II.
Day II
9.00-12.00 In-depth discussions between selected partners with the objective to establish specific collaborations.
Wrap up and conclusions.
