Conference on Science, Technology, Innovation & Social Responsibility

Conference on
Science, Technology, Innovation
& Social Responsibility

 Organized by CERN & the World Academy of Art & Science 
under the auspices of United Nations Office in Geneva

AT CERN
November 11, 2015 – 09:00-17:30

Science, Technology and Innovation are among the most powerful forces driving social change and development today. In the past they have been the source of both remarkable civilizational advances and threats to civilization. Some aspects of scientific development and application such as nuclear technology, pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and food additives are strictly monitored and controlled by governments and law. Other areas such as computerization of financial transactions, automation, biological research and telecommunications have been left primarily to the self-government of scientific institutions and business entities. Today the rate of scientific and technological development, dissemination and application far outpaces the capacity of society, institutions and individuals to adapt, contributing to increasing social imbalances, stress, upheavals, displacement and disruption. The challenge before humanity is to arrive at the most effective blend of governance and self-management to maximize both the freedom for scientific creativity and technological innovation and the welfare of present and future generations.

This symposium is being organized by CERN and the World Academy of Art & Science under the auspices of United Nations Office at Geneva. It will survey the potential impact of scientific and technological innovation in different fields on the progress of humanity in the 21st century and the alternative mechanisms available to ensure socially responsible management of these activities by the research community, business and governments.

Agenda

November 11 – 0900 to 1300

  1. Introduction

Herwig Schopper – former Director General of CERN; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees.
Ivo Šlaus – Honorary President of WAAS; Dean, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy.
Garry Jacobs – CEO of WAAS; Vice President, The Mother’s Service Society.

  1. Social responsibility and self-governance by the scientific community

MODERATOR – Momir Đurović – President, Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees.

SPEAKER – Martin Rees – Cosmologist; Astrophysicist; Former Master of Trinity College, Cambridge; Former President of the Royal Society (tbc)

PANELISTS

  • Julia Marton-Lefèvre – former Director General, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN); Former Rector, University for Peace.
  • Ian Burton – Emeritus Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Toronto; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees; Scientist Emeritus, Environment Canada.
  • Nebojša Nešković – Secretary General of WAAS; Head of the TESLA Project, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia.
  • Miroslav Radman – Professor of Cellular Biology at the Faculté de Médecine - Necker, Université Paris V, France; Member of the French Academy of Sciences; co-founder of the Mediterranean Institute For Life Sciences, Croatia. (tbc)
  1. Social responsibility of governments for S&T research, dissemination & application

MODERATOR – Emil Constantinescu – Former President of Romania; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees; Founding President of the Institute for Regional Cooperation and Conflict Prevention.

SPEAKER – Maria da Graça Carvalho – Principal Adviser to the Bureau of European Policy Advisers, European Commission; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees; Full Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department of Instituto Superior Técnico (Technical University of Lisbon (tbc).

PANELISTS

  • Winston Nagan – Chair of the Board of WAAS; Professor of Law, University of Florida.
  • Saulo Casali Bahia – Federal Judge, Brazil; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees.
  1. Social responsibility of business for S&T research, dissemination and application

MODERATOR – Bohdan Hawrylyshyn – former Director, International Management Institute, Geneva; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees; Economic advisor to the Ukrainian government.

SPEAKER – Azita Berar Awad – Director of the Employment Policy Department, ILO (tbc)

PANELISTS

  • Susan Greenfield – Senior Research Fellow, Lincoln College, Oxford University; Former director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain; CEO, Neuro-bio Ltd (tbc)
  • Paul Bristow, Co-founder – Pangloss Labs; President, Pangloss Geneva and Vice President, Pangloss France.

 November 11 – 1400 to 1730 -- SPECIAL PLENARY SESSION

  1. Science, Technology & Global Governance

Rolf-Dieter Heuer – Director General, CERN.
Michael Møller – Director General, UNOG; Former Executive Director of the Kofi Annan Foundation.
Heitor Gurgulino de Souza – President, WAAS; Former Vice President, Club of Rome; Former UNU Rector.

  1. Science, Research and Social Responsibility

KEYNOTE SPEAKER – Marie-Paule Kieny – Assistant Director-General, Health Systems and Innovation, World Health Organization.

PANELISTS

  • Raymond Torres – Director, International Institute for Labor Studies, ILO
  • Alexander Likhotal – President. Green Cross International; Member, WAAS Board of Trustees.
  • ­Anne Miroux – Head of Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) Secretariat ; Representative of Chair of the UN Group on Information Society (UNGIS) (tbc)

DISCUSSION

  1. Technology, Innovation and social responsibility

KEYNOTE SPEAKER – Michel Jarraud – Secretary General, World Meteorological Organization

PANELISTS

  • Houlin Zhao – Secretary General, International Telecommunication Union (tbc)
  • Francis Gurry – Director-General, World Intellectual Property Organization; Chair, High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM) of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board (tbc).
  • Christophe Rossel – President, European Physical Society; Emeritus Research Staff Member, IBM Research, Zurich

DISCUSSION