Global forum highlights NovaWorld Phan Thiet as Vietnam’s pilot AI city

During this week’s high-level online Policy Lab to explore ideas and strategies to arrive at an International Accord on Digital Rights, sponsored by the Club de Madrid and Boston Global Forum, the Plenary V session will focus on the upcoming United Nations’ Centennial Initiative and its role in helping to develop such an accord. The session will be held during 8-10pm in Vietnam today, as part of the three-day Policy Lab.

The UN Centennial Initiative was launched in 2019 by the United Nations Academic Impact in partnership with The Boston Global Forum. The Initiative hosts roundtable discussions, conferences, new concepts, solutions, think pieces, and reflections as we look ahead to the global landscape in 2045 – the United Nations Centennial year. Its mission is: “Remaking the World: The Age of Global Enlightenment.”

The core concepts of the UN Centennial Initiative include the idea of a social contract for the AI age, a framework for an AI international accord, an ecosystem for the “AI World Society” (AIWS) and a community innovation economy.

Some of these ideas have already begun to be put into practice, including the evolution of an AIWS City being developed by NovaWorld in Phan Thiet, Vietnam as a pilot project. AIWS City is a virtual digital city dedicated to promoting the values associated with AIWS. It looks to bring together a global enlightenment community of scholars, innovators, leaders, and citizens dedicated to fostering thought, creativity, and ethical behaviour.

Tran Dinh Thien, senior advisor to the Vietnamese prime minister, expressed his excitement to build NovaWorld Phan Thiet City into a leading healthcare and wellness tourism destination: “NovaWorld Phan Thiet and AIWS City will become a model, representative of the standards and ambitions of the United Nations Centennial Initiative and the World Leadership Alliance-Club de Madrid. Vietnam invites world leaders, ideologists, and innovators to Phan Thiet to support the plan to build NovaWorld Phan Thiet City.”

“We look forward to receiving unique ideas and suggestions to help Phan Thiet develop and become a leading ecosystem for a new economy, one for those looking to pioneer in the Age of Global Enlightenment, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the United Nations,” he added.

NovaWorld Phan Thiet (Binh Thuan) will be built into a leading healthcare and wellness tourism destination

Ramu Damodaran, co-chair of the United Nations Centennial Initiative, will be the lead speaker at the Plenary V session, scheduled for 9 AM EST. The panel will also feature:

- Former President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, a member of Club de Madrid;

- Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of State and Digital Governance of Greece, chair of the Global Strategy Group, OECD;

- Thomas Patterson, research director of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation, professor of Government and the Press of Harvard Kennedy School;

- Sean Cleary, advisor of Club de Madrid, Executive vice-chair of the FutureWorld Foundation, member of the Carnegie Council’s Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative’s Board of Advisors;

- Tran Dinh Thien, professor, senior advisor to the Vietnamese prime minister.

The facilitator for the session will be David Silbersweig, chairman, the Department of Psychiatry and co-director for Institute for the Neurosciences, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University professor.

The policymakers, including former presidents and prime ministers, convened on September 7-9 for a virtual “Policy Lab” co-sponsored by the Club de Madrid and Boston Global Forum. In advance of the gathering, the Boston Global Forum has teamed up with United Nations Academic Impact to release Remaking the World: Towards an Age of Global Enlightenment.

Together with the upcoming Policy Lab, Remaking the World takes a major step toward creating a “rights-based agenda for the global governance of AI and digital societies,” said Nguyen Anh Tuan, who edited the book and serves as CEO of the Boston Global Forum (BGF). “We’re moving toward a framework, an ecosystem, a social contract for the AI age.”

Tuan also directs the Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation.

The 256-page book is made up of white papers, speeches, remarks, and other presentations at events held during the pandemic and sponsored or co-sponsored by BGF. Among the contributors are well known policy makers and innovators such as Ashton Carter, former US Secretary of Defense; Vint Cerf, “the father of the internet” and chief internet evangelist for Google; former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; and former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.

For more information, or to register to attend the Policy Lab September 7-9, please visit: aidigitalrights.com