EVENT:  “The Economic Epic of Earth’s Evolution: the New Geography, Diplomacy and Legacy for the Knowledge Economy – from California to the World” will introduce a new business model in which luxury resort and estate development is leveraged to benefit global sustainability and transnational research. Presentations by scientists, diplomats, government representatives, members of academia and corporate leaders will explain the concept, lay out its benefits and describe a flagship project in Panama.

WHEN/WHERE:  8:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7. The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, 100 Academy Drive, Irvine; grid C4 on campus map.

INFORMATION:  Media planning to attend should contact Don Lehr, president of the Nolan/Lehr Group and public affairs consultant for Pangea World, at 917-304-4058 or dblehr@cs.com ; or Ria Carlson, associate vice chancellor of strategic communications, UC Irvine, at 949-633-7687 or ria.carlson@uci.edu

HIGHLIGHTS:  Speakers include:

Michael Drake, chancellor, UC Irvine, and honorary chair of the event

Hana Ayala, president and CEO of the California-based corporation Pangea World

Albert Bennett, vice provost for academic initiatives, UC Irvine

Michael Clegg, Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences, UC Irvine, and foreign secretary of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

John Avise, Distinguished Professor of ecology & evolutionary biology, UC Irvine

Marjorie Reaka, biology professor, University of Maryland

Adam Wilkins, editor of “Perspectives,” Genetics

Federico Mayor Zaragoza, president, Culture of Peace Foundation, and former director general of UNESCO

Winston Thompson, Fijian ambassador to the U.S.

Michael Sedláček, consul general of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles

BACKGROUND:  The event, hosted by Pangea World, will position California as the Pacific gateway and the geographic and academic anchor of a global endeavor to trigger the potential of knowledge based on natural resources as an origin of wealth, not meant to replace oil wealth but to outperform it in endurance and lasting benefit to humanity.

NOTE:  A five-page overview of the day’s events is available upon request or may be found here: http://www.pangeaworld.com/pdf/PW-Event-Program-02-07-2014–5pg.pdf