Oxford data scientist Hannah Ritchie debunks the overpopulation myth, a concern prominent since the 1960s. While global population is still growing, its rate has significantly slowed, contrary to earlier exponential growth assumptions. Ritchie, a lead researcher at Our World in Data and Oxford, specializes in environmental sustainability.

Transform your business operations with Odoo; start a free 14-day trial (no credit card required) at odoo.com/bigthink.

Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, was interviewed on the red carpet at the inaugural Giga Connectivity Forum 2024.

This forum convenes country partners and stakeholders to strategize for achieving universal school connectivity by 2030.

Stay informed about the latest global initiatives and achievements from BDT.

Access all highlights here: BDT Highlights

Standard optical fiber, the bedrock of modern broadband, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. This foundational technology has been crucial for global connectivity since its inception.

The ITU standard G.652, established in 1984, marks this significant milestone. Learn more about it here.

The "Not a woman’s job?" photo exhibition is organized by the UN Office in Geneva's Perception Change Project, with participation from CERN and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The exhibition showcases women (18+) who have challenged gender stereotypes and overcome barriers in science and technology. ITU stakeholders were invited to submit photos highlighting these achievements and stories.

Monika Gehner, Head of Corporate Communication at ITU, spoke with Elisavet Mike, a network engineer whose photo was submitted to the exhibition.

Witness the Big Food Redesign Challenge as participants innovate to create nature-first products, transforming obstacles into opportunities. This initiative aligns with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's mission as an international charity promoting a circular economy. Driven by design, this economy eliminates waste, circulates materials, and regenerates nature.

Thank you for watching. Explore more about our work and the circular economy by visiting the [Ellen MacArthur Foundation website](http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org). Subscribe to our [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQAC2otE5_agzHZPnk3mE5w?sub_confirmation=1) for insightful videos, and follow us on [Instagram](http://instagram.com/EllenMacArthurFoundation), [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/ellenmacarthurfoundation), [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/circulareconomy), and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellen-macarthur-foundation/).

Experience the Big Food Redesign Challenge, where participants race to create nature-first products. Watch them navigate design complexities, push boundaries, and transform obstacles into opportunities for innovation.

This video is brought to you by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an international charity promoting a circular economy. Driven by design, this model eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials, and regenerates nature.

Subscribe for more insightful videos from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation: YouTube Channel. Learn more about our work: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

In episode one of our "Redesigning Food" series, Dunia Bora, Nutricandies, and Spoon Cereals innovate by transforming previously unwanted ingredients. Vincent (Dunia Bora) creates cookies and juices from invasive species. Gustavo (Nutricandies) makes nutritious chocolate spread from discarded cocoa parts. Annie and Jonny (Spoon Cereals) repurpose oat-milk leftovers and ancient grains into hearty porridge.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an international charity, champions a circular economy that eliminates waste, circulates materials, and regenerates nature. Subscribe for more insights on our YouTube channel. Learn more at ellenmacarthurfoundation.org or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Multi-robot systems (MRS) offer significant benefits, including enhanced efficiency, collaboration, operational flexibility, and fault tolerance. Researchers aim to create autonomous swarms of terrestrial, aerial, and underwater devices capable of complex, collaborative missions.

However, these systems face challenges in reliability, scalability, communication orchestration, middleware design, interoperability, and standardization. This talk, presented by Enrico Natalizio (Université de Lorraine), explores the advantages, challenges, and future perspectives of networked robotics and communication systems, charting interdisciplinary paths to realize MRS's full potential.

Network virtualization, also known as network slicing, allows multiple isolated logical networks to coexist on a single physical infrastructure without performance or security interference. Initially envisioned to evolve Internet architecture, it later provided bandwidth guarantees for cloud applications in data centers.

Now a pillar of 5G and beyond mobile networks, network slicing delivers differentiated services with stringent requirements. Despite significant research over two decades, its end-to-end deployment remains unrealized. This talk covered its genesis, evolution, key challenges, solutions, and the outlook for 5G+ network slicing.

Edge computing reduces data transfer costs and enables real-time, private data processing by relocating computation to local devices. However, realizing its full potential requires advanced data analysis and content generation, specifically generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This talk investigated the challenges of deploying generative AI at the edge. It aimed to enhance privacy and efficiently use network and computational resources. The discussion considered edge environment limitations and current solutions for optimizing AI models on resource-limited devices, addressing efficient distributed learning for applications like Large Language Models.

Speaker: Albert Y. Zomaya, University of Sydney, Australia.

This talk introduced VisionX, a research area at the intersection of learning, reasoning, and communication. It explored VisionX's key enablers, mathematical tools, and contrasted it with current research efforts.

Recent results in semantics-native communication and emergent communication protocols were presented. The discussion highlighted the critical importance of transmitting semantic information, rather than redundant or useless raw data, to enable effective task completion.

Speaker: Mehdi Bennis, University of Oulu, Finland

Food brands and supermarkets can normalize nature-positive food by rethinking ingredients and production methods. Rob Cameron, Global Head of ESG Engagement at Nestle, discussed this at the Big Food Redesign Challenge launch.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an international charity, champions the circular economy. This design-driven approach eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products and materials, and regenerates nature.

For more insights, [subscribe to our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQAC2otE5_agzHZPnk3mE5w?sub_confirmation=1). Learn more about our work at [ellenmacarthurfoundation.org](https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org). Follow us on [Instagram](http://instagram.com/EllenMacArthurFoundation), [Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/ellenmacarthurfoundation), [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/circulareconomy), and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/ellen-macarthur-foundation/).

The Giga Connectivity Forum 2024 will convene at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 9. This inaugural event gathers Giga's country partners and stakeholders to strategize for universal school connectivity by 2030.

Giga is a global initiative dedicated to connecting every school to the internet, empowering young people with information, opportunity, and choice. Achieving this universal connectivity and closing the digital divide demands global cooperation, strong leadership, and innovative solutions in finance and technology.

Environmental justice addresses critical global concerns: communities worldwide disproportionately face environmental hazards, and the benefits and costs of environmental policies are often unequally distributed. Learn more about OECD's work on this topic: OECD Environmental Justice.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international body established in 1960. It collaborates to build better policies for prosperity, equality, and well-being. The OECD works with governments to establish evidence-based international standards and find solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges, serving as a unique forum for data, analysis, and best practices. A related Vidéo en français is also available. For more about the OECD: About the OECD.

Kerstin Jüttner, Public Affairs Officer for International Government Relations at ITU/UN and Rohde & Schwarz, was interviewed at the Global Symposium for Regulators 2024 (GSR-24).

The symposium took place in Kampala, Uganda, from July 1-4, 2024. For further details, visit the official GSR-24 website: www.itu.int/gsr24.

#ITUGSR

Patrick Holden, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Food Trust, addressed the Big Food Redesign Challenge, emphasizing how farming in harmony with nature can deliver. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an international charity, promotes a circular economy that eliminates waste and pollution, circulates products, and regenerates nature through design.

Discover more about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's work and the circular economy on their website: ellenmacarthurfoundation.org.

For additional insights, subscribe to their YouTube channel. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Get ready for the new season of The Circular Economy Show! Over five episodes, we'll delve into the foundational ideas that inspired the circular economy. Explore schools of thought like Biomimicry, Cradle to Cradle, Regenerative Design, Industrial Symbiosis, and the Performance Economy. Discover what the circular economy adopted from these influences, their key differences, and meet organizations applying these principles today.

The new season launches Tuesday, July 16th. Subscribe to The Circular Economy Show now to catch every episode.

An interview was conducted with Omeife, Africa's first humanoid robot, and her Nigerian creator, Dr. Chuks Ekwuewe. Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez from ITU led the discussion.

This interview took place at the Global Symposium for Regulators 2024 (GSR-24) in Kampala, Uganda, from July 1-4, 2024. For more details, please visit: www.itu.int/gsr24. #ITUGSR24

The South Sudan Robotics Club demonstrated two of their robots and participated in an interview at the Global Symposium for Regulators 2024 (GSR-24). This event took place in Kampala, Uganda, from 1-4 July 2024.

For more details, visit the official website: http://www.itu.int/gsr24. Follow updates using #ITUGSR24.