The Geneva Trialogue
The Geneva Trialogue brings together thought leaders from Academia, International Organizations and the Private Sector to shape actionable challenges that advance the cause of education for the SDGs.
The Geneva Trialogue will take place on on Friday 31 May, 2024 at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a part of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event), during the AI for Good Summit. The event is in-person at ITU and participation is by invitation only.
In response to the United Nations General Assembly’s call for collaborative partnerships towards sustainable development for all, the University of Geneva launched the Geneva Trialogue in 2016. Held annually, the Geneva Trialogue is a one-day event that brings together academics, private sector organizations, and multilateral stakeholders to discuss open knowledge and learning tools, platforms, and initiatives for the advancement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At the Geneva Trialogue, decision makers gather to deepen their understanding of the prevalent issues, trigger reflection, and proactively formulate proposals on how academia, international organisations and the private sector can work together to support and transform the world of SDG innovation, using open-source solutions, shareable methodologies, and scalable technology.
The 2024 Trialogue will continue to highlight Open Innovation for Education, as the main event theme, with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and global youth engagement through the Model United Nations (MUN). This focus will allow us to explore the interconnections between youth, education, technology, AI and the United Nations.
The choice of focus for 2024 reflects the growing recognition of the transformative potential of AI and youth movements in the field of education and their significance in achieving the United Nations SDGs.
Groups will form around acceleration tables, which will be lead by Thought Leaders, to co-design solutions to various challenges.
This year’s theme of enhancing education with artificial intelligence has a focuses on applications of AI to the Model United Nations (MUN), a global youth network which trains nearly a million young people each year in how to organize debates on the most challenging issues of our times, modelled on how the UN debates such issues.
This theme and focus are directly inspired by the outcomes of the last Geneva Trialogue, which took place at CERN in March 2023. One of the discussion tables was led by representatives of the UN Youth Associations, UNYA, and GIMUN, a Geneva-based MUN on “Raising the Impact of Model United Nations”. The outcomes of those discussions fed into a follow-up hackathon in June, called Hackathon Piaget, organized by UNESCO and the University of Geneva.
Results from that hackathon showed the potential for AI to transform the learning experience of MUN events. A prototype was developed based on these insights during the UN Datathon in November, by experts from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), academics from the Spanish National Research Council and University of Geneva, and two SMEs, AICrowd from Switzerland and MyMUN from Germany. The prototype was demonstrated at COP 28 in Dubai, and the result is now being integrated into the workflow for future COPs.
This chain of events would not have occurred without the initial seed of a well-formed challenge that emerged from the last Geneva Trialogue, and similarly impactful outcomes are expected from this year’s Geneva Trialogue.
Youth, Academia, International Organizations and the Private Sector
This event is by invitation only and will be held in-person at ITU in Geneva, Switzerland
Kindly Note -
The event organizer does not offer assistance with travel arrangements, accommodation, or visa-related matters for registered participants.
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Health Insurance and Liability Waiver
By registering for this event, the participant hereby confirms that they, in their participation in the above-described activity, hold adequate medical insurance for the whole activity duration, including travel, and note that UNITAR will not cover any medical expenses for participants.