The EuroTech Universities Alliance has reinforced its unanimous commitment to sustainability in research and education.
Europe’s 23 top-level science and technology universities are collaborating to establish a joint research agenda for sustainability to further integrate sustainability into their teaching curricula, and to harness innovation for sustainable development. Each institution also pursues its plan to achieve a green campus.
The symposium ‘EuroTech Universities: An alliance working for global sustainability’ recently brought together academic staff, students, operational directors, and the leadership of the six EuroTech partner universities at École Polytechnique in Paris. The presidents of EuroTech’s member institutions published a seven-point ‘Declaration for Sustainability’, to drive the EuroTech universities’ shift towards sustainability.
“With this declaration, we confirm our joint efforts to tackle the current challenges faced by society, science, and technology and to develop solutions to reach sustainable development,” EuroTech president, Éric Labaye, said. “To succeed, we are increasing and intensifying our collaboration within EuroTech, in all our areas of activity: research, initial and life-long education, and innovation.”
The EuroTech Universities of science and technology are committed to sustainable development, embodied by the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations adopted in 2015 as the prime challenge for humanity.
The universities will integrate the challenges posed by sustainable development in initial education and life-long training as a principal responsibility to train students and professionals to understand and solve key scientific, technological, and societal challenges.
They commit to advancing the frontiers of knowledge, technology, and innovation as essential tools for transformation towards absolute sustainability and will develop original technological solutions needed to address the world’s acute problems.
The universities recognise that technological development and scale-up must be complemented by behavioural changes to ensure responsible consumption, to avoid strain on the environment, and to reach a circular economy.
They are committed to implementing sustainable solutions across their campuses, training, research, and innovation activities; commit to mobilising their entire community as drivers of transformation through a collaborative, participative, inclusive and transparent approach; and will also activate their global partner network to reach societal well being and global sustainability.
Within the EuroTech Alliance, six leading European universities of Science and Technology join their forces to elaborate ambitious joint research projects on a European scale in priority areas such as artificial intelligence, sustainable development, health, and bio-engineering. The six partner institutions are École Polytechnique, the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
