ASI Diversity Day: from Inspiration to Innovation
- Paper number
IAC-20,E1,2,16,x58587
- Author
Mrs. Fiorella Coliolo, Italy, ASI - Italian Space Agency
- Year
2020
- Abstract
In recent years, UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been recognised to be a fundamental factors for growth and innovation attracting the attention of professional players, both public and private. If we consider the Space sector, UNISPACE+50 marks an important step in that direction, and SDGs have become a priority for the major space agencies. Since 2017 the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has been collaborating with universities, research centres and schools to expand outreach to different target audiences. The Agency is currently developing a new Space4SDGs roadmap 2020-2022 with a special focus on SDG4 (quality education), SDG5 (gender equality), and SDG10 (reducing inequalities). This abstract presents our cultural initiatives “ASI Diversity Day” devoted to engaging the public in Space. Launched in 2019, with the slogan ”The Puzzle of Diversity”, the event was aimed at promoting the importance of diversity, innovation and inclusiveness in the Space sector. The event took place in ASI HQ in Rome and gathered more than 300 students of secondary schools. The innovative format of the ASI Diversity Day is based on the: - diverse cultural background of the speakers - inspirational content of the speeches - diverse testimonials including artists, writers, scientists - combination of Space and SDGs to address cultural issues. Based on the success of the 2019t, we are organizing the 2020 ASI Diversity Day next May on the occasion of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development. As stated by the UN, this international day “represents an opportunity to celebrate the manifold forms of culture, from the tangible and intangible to creative industries, to the diversity of cultural expressions. It is an opportunity to reflect on how these contribute to dialogue, mutual understanding, and the social, environmental and economic vectors of sustainable development”. The 2020 ASI event has the ambition to promote a new approach for STE(A)M education; to contribute to the creation of an inclusive workforce, to raise awareness about the importance of leveraging our differences for new challenging Space projects. International cooperation is helping us to push the boundaries of knowledge, and it is fundamental to continue to foster D&I in the workplace to undertake innovative Space missions and to engage the next generation of scientists. This contribution will allow us not only to present the ASI Diversity Days 2019-2020 in terms of results and lessons learned, but also to share ideas for future Space cultural collaborative projects.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
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