The Academy on UNESCO Designations and Sustainable Development was launched in 2015 jointly with the exhibition "Behind Food Sustainability", as a pilot program on the double occasion of the United Nations Development Program "III International Forum on Local Economic Development" and of the EXPO Milan, in collaboration with the United Nations System Staff College and the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization. Today, it is a capacity building program ideated and implemented by the Santagata Foundation for the Economics of Culture and UNESCO through the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (based in Venice, Italy). The main objective of the Academy is to contribute to the achievement of the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, through the advancement of institutional and professional capacities of managing authorities, communities, and relevant operators from different UNESCO designations in the Culture and Science sectors.