SDG9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION
The Sustainable Development Goals (2015-2030), also known by its acronym SDGs, are an initiative promoted by the United Nations to give continuity to the development agenda after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are 17 objectives and 169 targets proposed as a continuation of the MDGs, including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption and peace, and justice, among other priorities. After a negotiation process on the SDGs that involved 193 member states of the UN, on September 25, 2015, the 193 world leaders approved at a summit held in New York in a high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly, an Agenda entitled “Transform our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ", which entered into force on January 1, 2016.
The 9th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for building resilient infrastructure, stimulating inclusive industrialization and encouraging innovation. Investing in sustainable basic infrastructure is essential to improving the living standards of communities around the world, which are basic services such as health, social and economic care, inclusive education, provision of communications, safety and security. Whereas more than half of the world's population now lives in cities, the importance of mass transportation, renewable energy, information and communication technologies, as well as the growth of new industries has increased, and technological progress has become imperative to find permanent solutions to economic and environmental challenges.
Most developed countries are making significant progress towards achieving SDG 9, through plans that encourage and support inclusive and sustainable industrialization and promote innovation in the areas of healthcare, education, finance, trade, administration and agriculture, with the aim of helping to reduce poverty and hunger, strengthen health, provide new jobs, mitigate the effects of climate change, improve energy efficiency, and make cities and societies sustainable.
In Lebanon, the entrepreneurship sector is making great strides in improving growth conditions for small enterprises. However, additional efforts should be made to modernize the infrastructure, encourage innovation, and boost the industrial sector. This was backed by Lebanon's possession of the human capital needed to innovate and develop an inclusive, economically and environmentally sustainable industrial sector that provides an increase in employment and economic opportunities. It is known that the Lebanese economy depends on open trade and cross-border communication, and the country's infrastructure has been designed to achieve this. However, the gap between infrastructure supply and demand has changed with changing needs and the crisis in Syria was reflected in the reality of the situation.
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Lebanon’s economy is based on open trade and trans-border connectivity and the country’s physical infrastructure was designed to achieve this. However, following a series of shocks and persistent fiscal constraints, the gap between infrastructure supply and demand has widened and needs have changed. The impact of the Syrian crisis was reflected in as a significant decline in the Lebanese industrial sector. Border closures have restricted trade with Syria and neighboring countries and caused a drastic decline in industrial exports to neighboring countries.
The industrial sector faces multiple obstacles to its development, but has promising potential, particularly once Lebanon embarks on the infrastructure investment program planned for in the Vision for Stabilization, Growth and Employment.
The CNRS-L works closely with UN agencies on an innovation technology programme. It is one of the four main partners of the LIRA programme. The CNRS-L has also released the ‘Science, Technology and Innovation Policy’ (STIP) a policy on science, technology and innovation that links socioeconomic needs with qualified human resources available in Lebanon.
Lebanon remains one of only a few countries where the telecommunication sector is fully owned by the government. The sector is a main source of government revenue. The government intends to develop and adopt a telecom policy aimed at liberalizing the sector and opening it up further to private sector investment and utilization.
The Lebanese University had established an agreement with the ministry of industry and with Lira Program in order to enable students to perform internship and training in industries, which would benefit to the industrial sector and to the academic sector at the same time, where theory courses could be applied in a practical way, and where students could benefit also from the results and analyses done by the industrial sector, in order to put standards and enhance courses and practices. (doc 61)
Also, and for the telecom sector, the engineering faculty had established double diploma with some French universities well known in the field, such as Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications en Bretagne, France agreement signed on (doc 62) in order to develop knowledge in telecom and facilitate the integration of students in telecom labor market, at the national and international level.
The Roumieh Rover A team from the Faculty of Engineering – Second Branch at the Lebanese University qualified for the final stage of the international competition (NXP CUP 2023), whose regional competitions are organized in Lebanon by the International Educational Association (IEA) within the (Coder Maker) program in cooperation with the Mona Bostros Foundation.
The faculty team, consisting of Charbel Asaad (second year electrical engineering), Teresa Baaini and Elie Bou Naoum (third year electrical engineering), submitted to the competition with a smart self-driving car model after undergoing digital training courses with the association and training sessions at BDD, provided that it will participate in the final competitions scheduled in Bucharest on May 10 and 11, 2023 under the supervision of the competition coordinator, Wissam Tadros.
Organised annually and covering the EMEA region, NXP Cup brings together teams of students to design, program and drive a professional miniature self-driving car model.
Maher Tannous from the Faculty of Engineering – Second Branch at the Lebanese University won the first prize in the (elevator pitch competition) within (ASME EFx-2022) organized on December 2 and 3, 2022 at Notre Dame University (NDU).
Maher, who is pursuing a third-year mechanical engineering degree, gave a ninety-second speech with the aim of convincing a company to invest in the hydrogen-driven automotive sector.
ASME EFX is an event dedicated to university students in Lebanon and around the world to encourage innovation in engineering and discover and support youth skills.
Lebanese University Student Projects Wins Lebanese Industrial Research Achievement Program Funding (LIRA-2022)
The projects of twenty students from the Lebanese University won funding for the Lebanese Industrial Research Achievement Program (LIRA-2022), in cooperation with institutions supporting innovation and entrepreneurship projects.
Academic and industrial projects, submitted by Lebanese University students for LIRA funding, focused on titles related to agri-food industry, material synthesis, water purification using natural materials, mechanics, electronics and nanotechnology.
The results were as follows:
Higher Institute of Doctorate in Science and Technology: Hussein Meterek, Alaa Atat, Fatima Farhat, Malak Hamia, Nahed Sandakli, Fatima Al-Dana, Lilian Majed, Cynthia Bounejm
Faculty of Engineering: Carl Moukarzel, Charbel Sfeir, Jamila Nassereddine, Mario Francis, Christian Helou, Mike Sakr, Yves Mansour, Elie Khouria
Faculty of Agriculture: Claire Zioni, Celine Zoghbi, Perla Mikhael
Faculty of Science: Zeina Al-Saba
The LERA program works in cooperation with a number of partners to support the industrial sector in Lebanon through young students, develop their ideas, enhance their capabilities, assist them in industrial research and fund their startups.
Centre MINE proudly announces the job vacancies for the 4th week of October 2020.
Requirements and details are posted on Centre MINE Facebook page (posting date and time are mentioned on the attached documents).
Students can:
Check the full list of vacancies on: Tiny.cc/minevac
Fill the Express Application to be directly linked to employers on: tiny.cc/expressvac
Check professional CV template, Cover letter template and how to write a professional email on: Tiny.cc/docsvac
Attend FREE webinars on CV writing, Job Interviews and Impactful Linkedin Profiles.
Follow Centre MINE official page on Facebook for updated vacancies
The Lebanese University - Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Centre MINE) announced +100 job opportunities during February 2020, and 113 CVs from the Lebanese University students were selected.
The Lebanese University - Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Centre MINE) announced +200 job opportunities during September 2020, and 249 CVs from the Lebanese University students were selected.
The Lebanese University - Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Centre MINE) announced +300 job opportunities during October 2020, and 539 CVs from the Lebanese University students were selected.
Mindset is a belief that orients the way we handle situations. It can either be a growth mindset that helps us spot opportunities and perceive obstacles as a chance to solve problems, or a fixed mindset that traps us in self-defeating cycles where we give up quickly when faced with obstacles.
Join Challenge to Change’s workshop this Saturday 25th July at 10:30 AM to learn how shifting our mindset from fixed to growth will turn our biggest passion and dreams into reality.
The second session of “Make Sense” program launched by the Lebanese University - Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Centre MINE) entitled: “From idea to action” was held at the Rafik Hariri University Campus, Hadath.
This session is part of a series organized in February and March 2020, and intended for students who wish to have a social or environmental impact on their societies
The Lebanese University - Centre MINE organizes a seminar on the technological revolution challenges
The Lebanese University - Center MINE has the honor to invite you to attend a scientific seminar on the importance and challenges of digital knowledge in our daily life.
In cooperation with the Doctoral School of Literature, Humanities & Social Sciences and the Francophone University Agency (AUF), the seminar will discuss the impact of the technological revolution on scientific innovation and entrepreneurship and on various topics in sociology, health and medicine.
Creating a resilient support infrastructure for grant development and administration is essential to expand research and development in universities. Successful research universities establish an environment that encourages and supports faculty with applying for grants and contracts, steward sponsored funding in accordance with regulatory requirements and administration, and successfully complete/close projects. Seeking external funding is essential for universities and faculty to supplement existing revenues and to meet their research, teaching, and service goals. Indeed, the premise of the Grant Writing seminar is that strong support systems can be designed and created to serve the local needs of participating universities and faculty members.
CNS, a subsidiary of ICC Group in Lebanon, is organizing a FREE technical training webinar about Network and Security starting October 5th, 2020 at 6 PM.
The purpose of this webinar is to help students kick-start their IT career with 7 practical courses covering Networks and Security in’s and out’s! They will learn how networks operate and understand the basics of security far from theories. This is a multiple session course. Student must attend all sessions to complete the training and get their certificate!
In cooperation with the Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CENTREMINE) at the Lebanese University, the internationally accredited business coach, Linda Achkouti Mouawad, presented a free workshop on "Business Planning" on 28 January 2020.
Coach Achkouti explained to students what any effective and successful business plan should include in the basics of executive summary, vision, market analysis, competition, strategy, product, service, sales, marketing, and operations that end with financial statements. She also gave the attendees advice on achieving goals, setting strategy, and thinking about things differently.
The Lebanese University - Centre MINE organizes free workshops in several faculties and branches during September.
The workshops cover several topics, including work ethics, healthy relationships, time and life management.
It should be noted that the Centre MINE was established at the Lebanese University at the beginning of 2019 according to Resolution No. 4180 after the approval of the University Council on 13 December 2018.
The Lebanese University - Center of Profession, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Centre MINE) organized a workshop on 3 February 2020 at the Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences (Branch 5) entitled: “Personality and more: Design Your Inner Psyche” powered by “Challenge to Change”, a non-profit Swiss association.
The workshop was delivered by coach Arij Kaissi, an ICF certified Executive and Leadership Coach and an Internationally Licensed Social Responsibility Consultant and Practitioner. Coach Kaissi focused on the importance of psychology and helping participants look into their inner psyche, discover its attributes and work on shaping it so they become the best version of themselves.
The President of the Lebanese University, Professor Fouad Ayoub, signed a cooperation agreement with the President of the Lebanese ECOSOC, Mr. Charles Arbid, in the Central Administration - Museum.
The signing of the agreement took place in the presence of Professor Zeinab Saad, General Coordinator of International Relations Office, Dr. Marlene Haidar, Dean of the Institute of Social Sciences, Dr. Selim Mekdessi, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, officials of the ECOSOC, and several directors and professors.
The agreement aims to activate the exchange of scientific and economic expertise and information between the two parties, to develop studies of common interest, to participate in conferences, seminars and workshops, to exchange various training programs, to prepare experts and specialized skills, in order to promote SDGs and to develop studies in the sectors of industry, trade, agriculture, tourism, science and technology.
The Lebanese University, represented by its President, Professor Fouad Ayoub, signed a cooperation agreement with the General Directorate of General Security represented by its General Director, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, in the presence of a delegation of General Security agents, Professor Kamil Habib, Professor Ahmad Rabah, Dr. Zeinab Saad, Dr. Ziad Salame, members of the CISCO program and heads of departments at the Central Administration.
President Ayoub welcomed the agreement signing that aims at exchanging experiences and scientific and technical information, for developing joint studies and research, and exchanging different qualification programs. The agreement also aims at using the existing laboratories and research centers of both parties to conduct joint research in order to seek complementarity between public institutions and to prepare specialized scientists working in the service of the country in order to ensure security and scientific development.
