Science for Development | ICISE, Quy Nhon, Vietnam, 8 -11 May 2018

Under the High Patronage of
Mr. Emmanuel MACRON President of the French Republic	Mr. TRAN DAI QUANG President of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Patronage Institutions

Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the

“Rencontres du Vietnam”

International Workshop on “Science for Development”

An international conference on the theme “Science for Development” will take place in Vietnam on 9 and 10 May 2018. The event will be hosted at the International Center for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE) in Quy Nhơn, Bình Định Province (http://www.icisequynhon.com ).

This initiative is the follow-up of the international conference on “Fundamental Science and Society” held at ICISE in July 2016, in the framework of the XIIth Rencontres du Vietnam ( http://vietnam.in2p3.fr ). The 2016 conference was organised under the high patronage of the Presidents of Vietnam and France, the patronage of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam and of the Province of Bình Định, and in collaboration with CERN, UNESCO and the International Solvay Institute. The event of 2016 saw the participation of many international scientists, diplomats, policy-makers, representatives from governmental and non-governmental international organizations as well as five Nobel Laureates. The success of the event was testified by the very positive coverage it received in the media and the appreciation shown by the international partners. At the conference held in 2016, experts from many different fields discussed the role of fundamental science in society as well as the potential of science as an element for intercultural dialogue and peaceful international cooperation. You may download our report of the conference “Fundamental Science and Society” in 2016 here.

As a logical continuation of the discussions started in 2016, the conference planned for 2018 will go a step further and discuss the role of science – being it basic or applied science – for the sustainable development of society. Although science is generally recognised as useful for society, quite often scientists do not get involved early enough in the discussions tackling major societal problems and in the design of the related policies. To overcome this problem, bridges should be established between politicians, scientists, diplomats, international organizations, entrepreneurs and policy makers. This would help society take advantage of the benefits science can provide, both in terms of its direct contribution to the solution of specific problems and of the models it can offer to tackle complex problems.

At the end of 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an ambitious programme aimed at ensuring a balanced, sustainable and generalised development of the planet. Science has a potential role in the implementation of the agenda, in many respects: it can provide the required know-how, the technologies and the relevant innovation that the countries need to concretely move from the definition of the objectives to their implementation with effective actions; it can help identify mechanisms to correctly operate knowledge and technology transfer; finally, its operational models can help ensure an effective implementation of the objectives in particular in developing countries.

The conference “Science for Development” will discuss the status of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as its future perspectives seen from the world of science, technology and innovation. It will also attempt to provide a multi-lateral view on the implementation of the Agenda, with contributions from emerging countries and from different regions. The planned roundtables will complement the discussions on the implementation of the Agenda 2030 by tackling the social and economical impact of science and its relations with policy making as well as its possible links with the industrial revolution 4.0. The conference will also stimulate the discussion, and call for concrete proposals, on the role of science for the intercultural dialogue and for peace, as well as on the role science can have as early alert launcher and solution provider. Exploring and understanding the mechanisms that relate science to development can be a real investment for many countries, as it may help them achieve the successful implementation of the objectives of the Agenda 2030 at the national level.

The provisional planning of the conference, as well as the provisional list of the roundtables are attached.

The conference “Science for Development” is supported – among other countries and institutions – by the Government of Vietnam, which looks at the event as an additional element of the already-started process of integration of the country into the international scientific community, with evident benefits for the consolidation of its international dimension in science and in sustainable development.