Pioneering Thought Leadership
1. Melbourne was the first city in the world to sign up to the United Nations Global Compact, a joint initiative between transnational businesses and the United Nations to support and encourage responsible business operations and universal values. By joining up, Melbourne established a precedent called the ‘Melbourne Model’. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan praised Melbourne’s efforts as a “pioneering approach to engaging the Global Compact” and was “confident that this will set an example for others to follow”. It has, with the cities of Bath, UK; Bogota, Colombia; Jamshedpur, India; Nuremburg, Germany; Plock, Poland; Porto Alegre, Brazil; and San Francisco, USA, joined the Melbourne-developed UN Global Compact Cities Program. (Source: http://www.melbourne.org.au)
2. Melbourne is the home of the National Centre for Intelligent Transport Systems, Australia's leading organisation supporting the development of a safe, efficient transport system which is responsive to the environment through the use of advanced technologies. (Source: www.its-australia.com.au)
3. Melbourne is home to Australia’s only Synchrotron which will become the hub for a new cluster of high tech industries and advanced research capabilities in the Monash science and technology precinct, east of the city. Synchrotrons have been likened to the microscope in usefulness because of their enormous value in examining or imaging biological and chemical materials. Synchrotron light is rapidly becoming an essential tool in drug discovery and has a wide range of applications, such as the design of new polymers and alloys, the fabrication of computer chips, and the processing of minerals, to name just a few. (Source: www.synchrotron.vic.gov.au)  |
