Digital Technologies for Global Sustainability: Practical Solutions for Industry

In a world grappling with urgent sustainability challenges, digital technologies offer a transformative pathway to bridge the gap between current progress and ambitious global targets. This course equips students from all backgrounds with the technical knowledge, practical skills, and critical thinking necessary to address these challenges through innovation.

This cross-disciplinary SMU-X course takes a hands-on, practical approach to leveraging digital technologies—especially Generative Artificial Intelligence—as powerful tools for addressing sustainability challenges across environmental, social, and economic sectors. Designed for students from all backgrounds, including those without technical experience, the course equips you with concrete, transferable skills to implement real-world solutions. At the same time, the rise of digital technologies brings with it environmental and social impacts, and this course emphasizes not only the potential of technology to advance sustainability but also the ethical responsibility to innovate equitably. Study cases will be chosen based on their relevance to the diversity of student experiences represented in the class.

Throughout the course, you will engage directly with leading industry practitioners who will present real-world challenges and insights from the frontlines of sustainability work. These experts will provide invaluable context, helping you to apply what you’ve learned to the most pressing issues facing industries today. By working on live projects with their guidance, you will develop practical solutions that are ready for immediate application in the workplace, preparing you to drive meaningful change in and through your career to shape a resilient future for both people and the planet.