Princess Mary tries on VR glasses at UNLEASH 2017

As Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark sails around the Whitsundays at Hamilton Island Race Week in Australia, Princess Mary has been busy attending official events back home.

And despite her twins starting school and a number of royal events to attend, the dedicated royal found time to make an appearance at the world renowned ‘UNLEASH’ event at the music hall in Aarhus, Denmark.

Described as an ‘Innovation Lab’, the non-profit event is held as a chance for talents from around the world to come together and ‘create real, scalable solutions’ and products to assist in creating a more sustainable and better world.

Despite her twins starting school and a number of royal events to attend, Princess Mary of Denmark found time to make an appearance at the world renowned ‘UNLEASH’ event

Despite her glamorous get-up, Mary wasted no time diving straight into the action as she explored the prototypes and ‘solutions’ on offer

Mary was snapped slipping on a pair of high tech virtual reality glasses and bursting into laughter as the lenses allowed her to experience a blend of what was around her and virtual reality

The 45-year-old looked effortlessly elegant as she arrived at the event in her favourite Dolce & Gabbana red dress and tailored black blazer – her hair out and lightly tousled for the occasion.

But despite her glamorous get-up, Mary wasted no time diving straight into the action as she explored the prototypes and ‘solutions’ on offer – from education plans and health platforms to ideas for reducing water pollution.

Mary was also snapped slipping on a pair of high tech virtual reality glasses and bursting into laughter as the lenses allowed her to experience a blend of what was around her and a virtual reality effect. 

Despite appearing a little puzzled at first, Billed Bladet reported that she found the glasses ‘exciting’ and ‘hoped to try them another time’

Princess Mary was all smiles as she explored each of the stalls and visited attendees

Mary was also taken on a tour and took the time to chat to attendees about their plans for the future

Despite appearing a little puzzled at first, Billed Bladet reported that she found the glasses ‘exciting’ and ‘hoped to try them another time’.

 Tomorrow’s leaders are the youth of today… and in each and every one of us there is a leader.

Mary was also taken on a tour and took the time to pose with attendees for selfies and chat to them about their plans for the future. 

She then took to the stage and delivered a powerful speech about the power of young people to change the world and the importance of women’s rights, gender equality, justice and ending poverty.

‘We are at the beginning of a new era of development,’ the passionate princess said.

Those at the event were excited to have the royal in their midst

Mary took the time to pose for selfies with a number of the guests 

The princess fixed her hair after trying on the glasses before sitting down to listen to a talk

‘We are fortunate today to have 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets that provide the blue print for our development agenda through to 2030 and one could say this agenda is the most ambitious global vision in history. 

‘But it is not just a vision, it is also a huge responsibility for all countries.’

She went on to say that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will create ‘some of the greatest opportunities of our time’. 

‘It is one of the most important driving factors behind economic growth and the fight against poverty. Greater gender equality in a country is linked to a higher level of education and better health, higher per capita income, stronger international competitiveness and more inclusive and rapid economic growth.’

She then took to the stage and delivered a powerful speech about the power of young people to change the world and the importance of women’s rights, gender equality and ending poverty

She went on to say that gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls will create ‘some of the greatest opportunities of our time’

‘We need to ensure that the current leaders and decision makers open the door to you and work on closing the generation gap,’ she said 

Princess Mary said the involvement and leadership of young people is also crucial.

‘Tomorrow’s leaders are the youth of today… and in each and every one of us there is a leader,’ she said. 

‘We need to ensure that the current leaders and decision makers open the door to you and work on closing the generation gap.’

She concluded: ‘I encourage you to maintain your motivation, uphold your current momentum and pursue your joint vision of meaningful and sustainable impact for all, no matter who they are, where they live, or what they are.’

The speech in its entirety can be found here.  

Who were the winners of UNLEASH lab, 2017?

1. Most Impact Potential 

Sustainable Production and Consumption – Team 13 

Solution: Shrink wrap is one of the largest hidden pollutants in the world. The team has developed a reuseable smart pallet cover to replace plastic shrink wrap. The solution impacts SDG 12 on reducing waste. The team estimates that each cover will result in a net reduction of plastic materials into landfills, save oil consumption, and cut CO2 emissions.

2. Best Prototype 

Education & ICT – Team 21 

Solution: The team believe they can make a larger and faster impact on the SDGs’ achievement by focusing on youth in developed countries who will, in 2030, have large amounts of political clout and power to influence global policy. Through a virtual reality (VR) assisted curriculum for migrant (including refugee) integration in secondary schools, we can help increase empathy and multicultural understanding among the leaders of tomorrow, and decrease prejudice and localized violence surrounding migrants.

3. Most Compelling Communication 

Health – Team 5 

Solution: “Dearly” is the name of a solution that designs and builds an artificial intelligence platform to help people monitor their health at home, with the ultimately goal of lowering the colorectal cancer mortality.

4. Most Collaborative Team  

Food – Team 24 

Solution: The team made a solution called Farmazon, which is an e-commerce platform that aims at reducing inefficiencies in agricultural value chains by linking smallholder farmers to buyers, agricultural advisers, input suppliers and transport providers.

5. Most Visionary Team 

Water – Team 14 

Solution: The proposed idea will help clean plastics currently polluting the ocean and the coastlines and utilize them as an energy source at wastewater treatment plants. Collecting this plastic waste and using it as an energy source to clean human waste will create a cradle-to-cradle solution, while helping wastewater utilities run a more lean and profitable operation. 

Source: UNLEASH 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk