Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Session 14 is the final session of the Club of Rome International Conference in Buenos Aires, on thought and action: the path to regeneration. The panel explores how international cooperation, public-private partnerships, and innovation networks can scale regenerative solutions from local experiences to regional transformations.
About the panel:
Jenn-Chuan "Jesse" Chern is the CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation. He is Professor Emeritus and former Lifetime Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University. Chern received his PhD in civil engineering from Northwestern University in 1984. He is a Fellow of American Concrete Institute (ACI) and was awarded the organisation’s highest honor as an honorary member in 2024. He is Vice President and academician of the International Academy of Engineering (IAE) and foreign academician of the Russia Academy of Engineering (RAE). Chern has served in several important roles in the cabinet of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China, Taiwan, such as Minister without Portfolio and Minister of Public Construction Commission. He has assumed the roles of the deputy CEO and the CEO for the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council of Cabinet from 2009 to 2014. Chern became an expert in hazard mitigation and post-disaster reconstruction in Taiwan following Typhoon Morakot.
Junyi Zhang is Chair Professor, School of Transportation, Southeast University, China and promotes transportation-centred transdisciplinary research for smart development (international collaboration, nature-friendly, resource integration, human-centred development etc.). In the context of the research and practice of built environment and smart technologies, he studies the relationship between transportation and smart development from multiple spatial scales (community, city, regional, international etc.), aiming to derive the wisdom of transportation that contributes to the construction of China's transportation powerhouse and the world's development. Focusing on future cities and transportation systems, his concrete research topics include, but are not limited to, smart mobility, multi-network integration of transportation and energy systems, integration of comprehensive transportation system and the built environment, and health/medical-engineering integration.
Karina Bentivoglio has a degree in Nutrition and is the founder of Fundación Alimentaris, an organisation she has presided over for more than 14 years.
María Adelaida Correa Ruiz is an economist, holds an International MBA from IE Business School, and is a Project Management Specialist with over 20 years of experience in the energy, road infrastructure, and financial sectors, specialising in sustainability, strategy, human resources, M&A, and corporate affairs. Currently, she leads a purpose-driven team that defines and embodies sustainability as a way of life, as the Corporate Sustainability Director for ISA in Latin America. She champions ESG initiatives, the Conexión Desarrollo social management model and the Conexión Jaguar Program.
Yoshitsugu Hayashi has been elected as Executive Committee member among 150 full members of The Club of Rome. He is immediate past President of WCTRS (World Conference on Transport Research Society) (2013-2019), an organisation registered under Swiss Law, which gathers more than 1,000 members from over 70 countries . He has been Visiting Professors at Institute for Transport Studies, Leeds University and Institute of Spatial Planning, University of Dortmund. He has been an international research leader in transport – land use interactions, and their impacts on climate change, disaster redilience and value capture from land market, and also socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic. The current research focuses on Infrastructure impact assessment method evaluating individual’ s QOL(Quality of Life). He has been a game changer for transport sustainability by showing simulations results. Typical examples of his research applications include 1) Bangkok urban railway development extending 300 km network within only 25 years, 2) Japanese Maglev high speed rail (to be operated connecting Tokyo and Osaka by 60 mintues at 550km/hr), 3) Indian high-speed rail (for a 500 km long corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad under construction), etc. Without these projects, people would intensively use road and air transport to consequently emit enormous CO2, PM2.5 pollutant, etc.
Moderator:
Javier Vazquez is a consultant, Club de Roma Argentina. He is a sociologist, environmentalist, specialist in Sustainable Urban Development.
Session 14 is the final session of the Club of Rome International Conference in Buenos Aires, on thought and action: the path to regeneration. The panel explores how international cooperation, public-private partnerships, and innovation networks can scale regenerative solutions from local experiences to regional transformations.
About the panel:
Jenn-Chuan "Jesse" Chern is the CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation. He is Professor Emeritus and former Lifetime Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University. Chern received his PhD in civil engineering from Northwestern University in 1984. He is a Fellow of American Concrete Institute (ACI) and was awarded the organisation’s highest honor as an honorary member in 2024. He is Vice President and academician of the International Academy of Engineering (IAE) and foreign academician of the Russia Academy of Engineering (RAE). Chern has served in several important roles in the cabinet of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China, Taiwan, such as Minister without Portfolio and Minister of Public Construction Commission. He has assumed the roles of the deputy CEO and the CEO for the Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council of Cabinet from 2009 to 2014. Chern became an expert in hazard mitigation and post-disaster reconstruction in Taiwan following Typhoon Morakot.
Junyi Zhang is Chair Professor, School of Transportation, Southeast University, China and promotes transportation-centred transdisciplinary research for smart development (international collaboration, nature-friendly, resource integration, human-centred development etc.). In the context of the research and practice of built environment and smart technologies, he studies the relationship between transportation and smart development from multiple spatial scales (community, city, regional, international etc.), aiming to derive the wisdom of transportation that contributes to the construction of China's transportation powerhouse and the world's development. Focusing on future cities and transportation systems, his concrete research topics include, but are not limited to, smart mobility, multi-network integration of transportation and energy systems, integration of comprehensive transportation system and the built environment, and health/medical-engineering integration.
Karina Bentivoglio has a degree in Nutrition and is the founder of Fundación Alimentaris, an organisation she has presided over for more than 14 years.
María Adelaida Correa Ruiz is an economist, holds an International MBA from IE Business School, and is a Project Management Specialist with over 20 years of experience in the energy, road infrastructure, and financial sectors, specialising in sustainability, strategy, human resources, M&A, and corporate affairs. Currently, she leads a purpose-driven team that defines and embodies sustainability as a way of life, as the Corporate Sustainability Director for ISA in Latin America. She champions ESG initiatives, the Conexión Desarrollo social management model and the Conexión Jaguar Program.
Yoshitsugu Hayashi has been elected as Executive Committee member among 150 full members of The Club of Rome. He is immediate past President of WCTRS (World Conference on Transport Research Society) (2013-2019), an organisation registered under Swiss Law, which gathers more than 1,000 members from over 70 countries . He has been Visiting Professors at Institute for Transport Studies, Leeds University and Institute of Spatial Planning, University of Dortmund. He has been an international research leader in transport – land use interactions, and their impacts on climate change, disaster redilience and value capture from land market, and also socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic. The current research focuses on Infrastructure impact assessment method evaluating individual’ s QOL(Quality of Life). He has been a game changer for transport sustainability by showing simulations results. Typical examples of his research applications include 1) Bangkok urban railway development extending 300 km network within only 25 years, 2) Japanese Maglev high speed rail (to be operated connecting Tokyo and Osaka by 60 mintues at 550km/hr), 3) Indian high-speed rail (for a 500 km long corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad under construction), etc. Without these projects, people would intensively use road and air transport to consequently emit enormous CO2, PM2.5 pollutant, etc.
Moderator:
Javier Vazquez is a consultant, Club de Roma Argentina. He is a sociologist, environmentalist, specialist in Sustainable Urban Development.
