CIBJO’s popular Jewellery Industry Voices webinar and seminar series will kick off its fifth season at the VICENZAORO show in Vicenza, Italy, with seven hybrid seminars – in person at the Fiera di Vicenza exposition centre, and simultaneously live streamed. They will take place over two days, on Saturday, January 20, 2024, and Sunday, January 21, 2024.

The event is beuing hosted by the VICENZAORO organizer, the Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), and is part of a joint CSR and sustainability educational programme for the jewellery industry, presented by by CIBJO and IEG, which has been recognized by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations.

The two day programme is as follows:

SEMINAR 1
Technology and Innovation in Responsible Sourcing
Saturday, January 20, 2024, 10:00 AM-10:50 AM, Educational Hub Room

Organised in collaboration with the Platinum Guild International (PGI),  the seminar will look at technologies that enhance responsible sourcing, particularly in terms of creating traceable supply chains. It will be moderated by Josh Helmich, CEO and founder of the Helmich Luxury Group, and the panellists include Jason McIntosh, Chief Operating Officer at Tracr, the advanced technology platform developed by the De Beers Group to underpin trust in diamond provenance; Tai Wong, Director, Global Innovation and Product Development at PGI; Edward Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Director at Gemfields, a major coloured gemstone mining company; Andrew Rimmer, Chief Executive Officer at Opsydia, whose ultra-short pulse laser technology is bringing significant security advances to diamonds and other gemstones; and Francesca Manfredi, Head of Sustainable Innovation Watches and Jewellery at Kering, the luxury brand group.

SEMINAR 2
Equality for All
Saturday, January 20, 2024, 11:00 AM-11:50 AM, Educational Hub Room

Organised in collaboration with the Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030 (WJI 2030), the seminar will examine how the goal of fostering inclusivity, as prescribed in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, can be achieved through collaborative initiatives, and more specifically through the Women’s Empowerment Principles. In September last year, WJI 2030 launched its first case study on Gender Responsive Procurement in the watch and jewellery industry in collaboration with UN Women. The seminar will be moderated by Iris Van der Veken, Executive Director and Secretary General of WJI 2030. Panellists include Dr. Anino Emuwa, Founder of 100 Women @ Davos; Lisa Koenigsberg, President of Initiatives in Art & Culture; Mihwa Park, Women’s Empowerment Principles Coordinator at UN Women; Alice Vanni, CSR Manager, Italpreziosi; and Emilie Van Landeghem, Manager Governance and Strategic Sustainability Projects at WJI 2030.

SEMINAR 3
Actioning the Nature Journey in the Watch and Jewellery Industry
Saturday, January 20, 2024, 12:00 PM-12:50 PM, Educational Hub Room

Organised in collaboration with the Watch & Jewellery Initiative 2030 (WJI 2030), the seminar will look at the impact of raw materials extraction by the greater jewellery industry on the natural environment and the role companies all along the value chain can play in minimising and reducing their effect on nature and biodiversity. Moderated by Iris Van der Veken, Executive Director and Secretary General of WJI 2030, panellists include Noora Jamsheer, CEO at the Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones (DANAT); Madeline Heun, Nature Strategies Consultant at The Biodiversity Consultancy; Liza Murphy, Head of the Conservation Management Assurance Team at IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature; Francesca Manfredi, Head of Sustainable Innovation Watches and Jewellery at Kering, the luxury brand group; and Matan Tsabari, CSR Manager at Taché Diamonds. 

SEMINAR 4
Halo to Hammer: Reward and Risk in Social Media Marketing
Saturday, January 20, 2024, 1:00 PM-1:50 PM, Educational Hub Room

Organised in collaboration with the New York-based Initiatives in Art & Culture, the seminar will consider how, with the social media having become primary vehicles for the marketing of jewellery, a range of risks, both reputational and legal, are becoming more prominent. It will look at the role played by influencers, and the implications of their use of intellectual property, greenwashing and virtual reality. The seminar will moderated by Lisa Koenigsberg, President of Initiatives in Art & Culture, and panellists include Tiffany Stevens, President of the CIBJO Ethics Commission and President, CEO and Chief Counsel of  Jewelers Vigilance Committee, the leading legal specialist in the U.S. jewellery sector; Kyle Roderick, a journalists at Bijoux Review; Marco Amorese, a partner at the AMSL Avvocati legal firm in Milan; and Raluca Anghel, Global Head of External Affairs and Industry Relations at the Natural Diamond Council.

SEMINAR 5
Investigating sustainability principles in the gold jewellery business
Sunday, January 21, 2024, 10:00 AM-11:00 AM, Palladio Theatre

Organized in collaboration with the World Gold Council, the seminar will consider the application of sustainability practices in the jewellery industry, from the perspective of gold sector. It will be moderated by John Mulligan, President of the CIBJO Sustainable Development Commission, and Director of Market Relations and Climate Change Lead at the World Gold Council (WGC). Panellists will include Sakhila Mona Mirza, Executive Director of the Board and General Counsel at LBMA; Melanie Grant, Executive Director of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC); Iris Van der Veken, Executive Director and Secretary General of WJI 2030; Briony Coleman, Head of Safety & Sustainability Global at Newmont, the world’ largest gold miner; and Philip Olden, an industry sustainability and responsible supply chain consultant, who is the former President of the CIBJO Responsible Sourcing Commission and a former Managing Director of the World Gold Council.

SEMINAR 6
A Common Understanding: Harmonising the Language of Responsible Supply Chains
Sunday, January 21, 2024, 11:15 AM-12:15 PM, Palladio Theatre

The seminar will consider how, with supply chain integrity becoming a critical component of a jewellery item’s real worth, the terminology used to describe and evaluate responsible social and environmental practices is increasingly important. It will look at the work of CIBJO’s  Jewellery Industry Supply Chain Nomenclature Committee, which was created to develop a set of universally agreed to nomenclature related to responsible sourcing and sustainability that would be applicable both in the industry and in marketing and informational messages in the consumer markets. The keynote speaker will be Feriel Zerouki, Chair of CIBJO’s  Jewellery Industry Supply Chain Nomenclature Committee, who is also Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs at the De Beers Group  and President of World Diamond Council. Edward Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Director at Gemfields will help lead the discussion.

SEMINAR 7
The role of big data in understanding the diamond market and decision making
Sunday, January 21, 2024, 12:30 AM-1:30 PM, Palladio Theatre

The seminar will focus upon the increasingly availability of big data, as well as the software tools able to analyze them and detect patterns, removing much of the risk that has been part of the jewellery trade for decades. The featured speaker is Mahiar Borhanjoo, President of UNI Diamonds, the developer of a leading diamond business-to-business trading ecosystem, where decision-making is enabled by an examination of real-time big data. Edward Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Director at Gemfields will help lead the discussion.

To view the webinars online, viewers will be able to link directly to the live feed via the The Jewellery Golden Cloud on the VICENZAORO website at: https://www.vicenzaoro.com/en/.   h