Bridging Sustainable Energy, Industry, and Education in Asia Pacific

The Global Sustainable Development Congress (GSDC), hosted annually by Times Higher Education, is widely regarded as the largest simultaneous gathering of cross-sector stakeholders convened to deliver urgent solutions for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This year’s edition, held in Jakarta from 22 to 25 June 2026, brought together more than 5,000 participants from academia, government, industry, project financiers and civil society, representing over 100 countries.

Across the six SDG aligned tracks that structured the Congress, Lestari Advisors, represented by Dr.Ery Wijaya and Brurce Mecca, was honored to serve as Track Host for the Energy and Industry track, with Irene Amadea Rembeth as host moderator, alongside Sunway University as Track Partner. The Energy and Industry track was designed to facilitate a structured dialogue between academia, industry, and government around the collaborative pathways needed for a real energy transition, from building the skills required for the future energy workforce, to achieving a just energy transition, to scaling renewable energy solutions at pace. 

Hosting the Energy and Industry Track

Lestari Advisors-hosted Energy and Industry track represented a strategic platform where stakeholders could engage in meaningful dialogue and lay the groundwork for future collaboration. Recognizing the significance of this opportunity, we facilitated discussions throughout the track, including setting expectations and framing the dialogue at the outset, guiding conversations across the sessions, and highlighting shared opportunities for collaboration across the energy and industry sectors. We also contributed insights drawn from its own experience and ongoing work, helping to enrich the discussions with practical perspectives and lessons learned.

Over three days, the track covered nine key sessions featuring distinguished speakers from across academia, industry, and government:

1. Mission-driven fifth-generation universities: Shaping talent and innovation for a sustainable energy future 
2. Delivering a just energy transition for the Asia-Pacific region
3. Scaling renewables in Asia and developing solutions for the global energy transition
4. Decarbonising industrial value chains: From urban energy systems to circular and low impact production
5. Rangsit University smart, low-carbon campus transformation
6. Net zero in action: Industry university partnerships driving sustainable transformation
7. Renewable energy innovation in Indonesia
8. University, industry and government collaboration for a sustainable energy future
9. Implementing smart energy management to accelerate SDG delivery

Addressing Bottlenecks, Proposing Solutions, and an Enhancing Urgency Sustain Industral Decarbonization and Accelerating Just Energy Transition

As Track Host, Lestari Advisors observed across the nine sessions that discussions among speakers and participants consistently identified persistent bottlenecks, particularly in the policy and technology domains, which are critical to advancing the energy and industrial sectors. At the same time, the dialogue among academia, government, and industry highlighted practical solutions and clarified the complementary roles that each sector must play in overcoming these challenges.

Universities are the foundation of long-term transformation by developing the skilled talent needed by government and industry. Across the track, participants emphasized that future leaders must combine technical expertise with critical thinking, ethical judgment, and strong moral responsibility. Beyond education, universities also serve as living laboratories where research and innovation can be tested and translated into real-world applications. Government enables progress through supportive policies, regulatory certainty, and incentives, while industry drives implementation by scaling innovation and commercializing new technologies. Together, academia, government, and industry form an interconnected ecosystem that accelerates innovation and removes barriers to the energy transition.

Across all nine sessions, one message remained consistent: policy, technology, and collaboration are three fundamental pillars of a successful energy transition. While technological innovation and sound public policy are essential, sustained collaboration among academia, government, industry, and other stakeholders is the engine that accelerates progress, bridges existing gaps, and enables a resilient and inclusive energy transition.

Moving Forward: A Call to Action for Respective 

Responding to the discussions from speakers and participants throughout the Energy and Industry track, we call for the following:

1. Move from dialogue to action through shared priorities and measurable outcomes. 
2. Build stronger alliances across government, universities, industry, finance, and development partners.
3. Focus collective action on policy reform, de-risking finance, capacity building, value chain coordination, and technology integration.
4. Translate insights into practical initiatives within the next 12 months. 
5. Sustain momentum through accountability, follow up, and long term collaboration.

Hosting the Energy and Industry Track at GSDC 2026 reaffirmed an insight that we encounter consistently in our work and that lies at the core of our projects: transformation, particularly in the energy and industry sectors, depends as much on effective coordination as it does on innovative ideas. We are grateful for the opportunity to facilitate rich cross-sector dialogue and to help translate the insights and lessons emerging from these discussions into shared priorities for action. We hope the partnerships and conversations fostered during the conference will continue beyond GSDC 2026, to drive meaningful progress toward a more resilient, low-carbon, and sustainable energy and industrial future.