Accelerating technological solutions for the SDGs

8 - 10 OCTOBER 2025

Shaping impactful innovative solutions for a sustainable future

The G-STIC Conference is one of the world’s leading platforms focused on technological innovation for sustainable development. It brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, industry leaders, researchers, policymakers, investors, and social and economic actors to explore market-ready technological innovations with the potential to substantially impact the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 8th edition of the G-STIC Conference, known as G-STIC Pretoria, will take place from 8 to 10 October 2025 at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria, South Africa. This landmark edition is particularly significant as it coincides with the 80th anniversary of the CSIR, underscoring the organisation’s enduring commitment to scientific and technological excellence in support of sustainable development. It also marks the first time G-STIC will be held on the African continent.

G-STIC Pretoria will serve as a premier global forum for advancing integrated technological solutions to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. Building on the foundation of previous editions, it will also offer a distinctive focus on Africa’s sustainability challenges and opportunities, bringing critical regional perspectives to the global dialogue.

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Speakers

Dr. Vibha Dhawan

Director-General

TERI

Inge Neven

CEO

VITO

Dr. Paulo Gadelha

former President of Fiocruz

Coordinator of the Fiocruz Strategy for 2030 Agenda

Prof. Blade Nzimande

Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation

Government of South Africa

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SUPPORTED BY 10 INTERNATIONAL CO-HOSTS FROM BELGIUM, BRAZIL, CHINA, INDIA, MOROCCO, NIGERIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH KOREA AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

G-STIC is hosted jointly by VITO (the prime research and technology organisation on cleantech and sustainable development in Belgium) and 9 other not-for-profit independent technology research institutes: CSIR (The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa), FIOCRUZ (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Brazil), GIEC (Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, China), JITRI (Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, China), MASEN (Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy), NACETEM (National Centre for Technology Management, Nigeria), STEPI (Science and Technology Policy Institute, South Korea), TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute, India) and TII (Technology Innovation Institute, United Arab Emirates).

Prof. Luiz Paulo Assad

Professor

University of Rio de Janeiro

Dr Luiz Paulo Assad holds a degree in Oceanography from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (1996), a master's degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of São Paulo (2000) and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Engineering Research (2006). He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Meteorology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and also a permanent professor in the Graduate Program in Meteorology of the aforementioned department.

Researcher and technical coordinator of the Environmental Modelling Centre of the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (COPPE) and collaborating professor in the Civil Engineering Program at COPPE. He has experience in the area of Physical Oceanography, with an emphasis on computational ocean modelling, working mainly on the following topics: global and regional computational ocean modelling, climate modelling, ocean-atmosphere interaction processes, characterization and analysis of meteorological, oceanographic and environmental data, Renewable Marine Resources and sustainability.

Paul Campling

International Business Development

Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO)

Dr. Paul Campling is a hydrologist, specialised in the domain of land and water management and policy assessment. He is currently International Business Development Manager at VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research) coordinating the acquisition and management of European environmental projects. Previously he worked as a Project Manager at the European Environment Agency (Copenhagen) coordinating the IRENA project to develop and report on agri-environmental indicators for the European Union. He also spent 5 years in Nigeria working on a research project concerned with water resources development, for which he completed his PhD. In the last 25 years he has managed several environmental projects addressing different environmental concerns for the European Space Agency (flood monitoring), DG Eurostat (landscape indicators), the Joint Research Centre (permanent grasslands, nitrogen balances), and DG ENV (cost benefit analysis of the Water Framework Directive, alternative water supplies, market-based instruments for reducing air pollution, soil organic matter – best practices and tradeoffs). Paul was coordinator of the Pavitra Ganga project in India that demonstrated improved solutions for waste water treatment, resource recovery (energy and materials) and smart water management (sensors and ICT). Paul is an expert in European environmental policy. Paul originates from the United Kingdom but is now also a Belgian national.