Program

Conference “Science for Development
ICISE, Quy Nhon, Vietnam 9 – 10 May 2018

Preliminary Programme is available here

 

List of the Roundtables

Roundtable 1: Social and economical impact of science on society

Scope: discuss the role of science in society, its benefits and its limits, as well as the benefits for the whole society deriving from an increased awareness of the public and the decision-makers.

Topics:

  • Perception and reality. Progress and development of sciences.
  • How can fundamental and applied science work together: funding; possible synergies.
  • Science as a motor for technological development, innovation, and the sustainable growth of society.
  • Open access, patent and Intellectual Property. Advantages and consequences, in particular for developing countries.

Panelists: Scientists, politicians, economists, entrepreneurs, representatives of international organizations, and representatives of the civil society.

Roundtable 2: Science as an alert launcher and as a provider of possible solutions

Scope: discuss the key role of science in the sustainable development scenario, as it can help detect risks and provide with mitigation measures. The success story is the springtime Antarctic Ozone Hole, detected by scientists in 1984, and solved thanks to the Montreal Protocol signed in September 2017. More controversial stories are the environmental agreements, and in particular the one signed in December 2015 in Paris, which implementation is subject to fluctuating political support.

Topics:

  • the Ozone Hole
  • global warming
  • biodiversity
  • health
  • energy scarcity and renewable energies
  • international environmental agreements
  • are scientists adequately listened to when they launch alerts?

Panelists: Scientists who can bring examples of success stories but also failures, international organizations involved in current risk awareness programmes, representatives of governments/governmental administrations and civil society.

Roundtable 3: Science and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

Scope: discuss on the impact science may concretely have on the implementation of the Agenda, in particular if the implementation programmes adequately take into account the knowledge and know-how the world of science (basic and applied) can make available to the whole community.

Topics:

  • Science as a cross-cutting element in the 2030 Agenda.
  • Capacity building as motor of development: what is capacity building and how can knowledge and technology transfer actually contribute to it?
  • Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda: status and envisaged implementation programmes involving STI.
  • Implementation: local vs international. National, regional and international implications.
  • Implementation of the Agenda by developing countries: the example of Vietnam.

Panelists: High-level speakers from international organizations, scientists and policy makers. Representative of Vietnamese culture/government/scientific environment.

Roundtable 4: Science models and development

Scope: discuss models, developed by the world of science, which could be possibly adopted in other fields. This theme is being developed also in other contexts and in other conferences. However, the interesting element in the 2018 Conference could be to link this theme to those of development, both at the national and at the international scales.

Topics:

  • Science as global public good.
  • Models of international cooperation: combining national and global scales.
  • Development strategies adopted by countries from different regions, and by international organizations: how much do these programmes and strategies include “science models”? Could them benefit from including “science models”?
  • Scientific and technological education as a driving element for development.

Panelists: Representatives of the world of science, of scientific international organizations, and presentation of national strategies from developed and developing countries.

Roundtable 5: Science and policy making

Scope: discuss to which extent scientists should be involved at an early stage when major societal decisions are taken by politicians and policy makers. Participants will identify the ideal situation and propose strategies to reach the objective.

Topics:

  • How to establish bridges between different “worlds”, represented by: scientific community; politicians; diplomats; entrepreneurs; civil society?
  • Science-policy interface.
  • Science in Parliaments.
  • Scientific advice to governments.

Panelists: Scientists, politicians, economists, entrepreneurs, representatives of international organizations, and representatives of the civil society.

Roundtable 6: Science and industrial revolution 4.0

Scope: discuss the expected advantages and disadvantages – in particular on the labor market – of this “revolution”. How can scientists help creating a better understanding of this “revolution”, the positive and less positive impacts it can have on the future of humanity. Can science help increasing the potential benefits and limit the potential negative effects?

Topics:

  • Is industrial revolution 4.0 ineluctable?
  • Will industrial revolution 4.0 contribute to development or will it simply increase the gap between developed and developing countries?
  • What are the expectable societal changes: labor market; ethic concerns.
  • Impact on the future of people: can science help setting the basis for a real sustainable development and limiting some possible negative effects of industrial revolution 4.0?
  • What future for the society with industrial revolution 4.0 ? Can science help shaping it?

Panelists: In addition to economists, politicians, government officials (e.g. from Ministries for Social Affairs, Development, Industry etc …), entrepreneurs, representatives from the civil society and international organizations this panel may include scientists as well as a philosopher or an expert on societal themes.

Roundtable 7: Science as enabler of dialogue

Scope: discuss how science can contribute to development via its established capabilities to foster dialogue and peace. An example could be SESAME, the synchrotron-light Project for experimental science and applications in the Middle East. Another example could be the ongoing effort that the InterParliamentary Union (with the support of scientists) is producing to favor development projects (e.g. supply of water) in the Middle East region thanks to a better dialogues, though science, among Parliaments of the region. The projects UNESCO is supporting to promote common and sustainable use of transboundary water could be also an example to discuss.

Topics:

  • Can science help creating the conditions for multicultural dialogue (and peace)?
  • Can science help developing common values and code of conducts?
  • Can the dialogue help supporting development and peace policies?
  • Dialogue between developed and developing countries and among developing countries.
  • Science as a support to regional dialogue.
  • Ongoing and new initiatives.
  • Science diplomacy / water diplomacy

Panelists: representatives of those international organizations that have active programmes of the type described above. Scientists and policy makers.