A SUMMIT to unite global communities with the aim of making regions more sustainable and self-sufficient will take place on the Isle of Wight later this month.
The summit will be held at Cowes Yacht Haven and feature speakers from organisations including IBM, the London 2012 Games and Scottish and Southern Energy.
Minister of State for Energy, John Hayes, will be the keynote speaker.
EcoIsland has set a target of making the Isle of Wight renewable energy self-sufficient by the end of the decade, with the project already attracting major partners including IBM, Toshiba and Toyota.
Islands from around the world, as well as regional communities in the UK, will be invited to publicly commit to becoming renewable energy self-sufficient by 2020 and sustainable by 2030 by signing the EcoIslands Accord.
Communities which are not yet ready to make the commitment will have the opportunity to take what they've learned from the summit back to their own communities to lay the foundations for signing the Accord at the 2013 summit, said a spokeswoman.
The Ecoislands Global Summit 2012 will also share progress from the Isle of Wight’s EcoIsland project, showcasing research and development, projects and community initiatives.
EcoIsland Community Interest Company chief executive David Green said: "The summit is not about talk and targets, it’s about communities uniting on a meaningful journey to sustainability and accessing the resources and knowledge to turn that vision into reality."
Speakers will include David Stubbs, head of sustainability for the London 2012 Games, and master inventor and CTO of IBM smarter energy Andy Stanford-Clark, who lives on the Island.
He said: "Ecoislands and IBM have joined forces alongside other partners to help create a vision which will ultimately make the world work better.
"This is a huge challenge , which starts by helping the Isle of Wight make smarter use of its energy.
"By using advanced technologies to integrate and analyse data from the Island’s future renewable generation and demand management systems, Ecoislands aims to secure energy self-sufficiency and set a precedent for what could be achieved around the world."
On the morning of October 16, there will be a local stakeholders workshop, with an Island and regional delegates' workshop in the afternoon. The Ecoislands Global Summit will take place all day on Wednesday October 17.
•Meanwhile, the race to have David Green named as Britain's Team Green Britain Hero has entered its final stage, with a £10,000 community grant up for grabs.
He is second in the public vote, eight per cent behind first place, but there is still chance for Isle of Wight to be awarded the cash, which would be used on projects including providing more allotment spaces for community growing projects.
Voting closes at 10am on Saturday.
You can vote via the Ecoisland homepage www.eco-island.org by clicking on the Team Green Britain flag and following the instructions.