Building Global Partnerships: Sharing Discovery While Protecting Competition

Organised by: Ms Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, South African Minister for Science and Technology Co-organised by: Aidan Gilligan, Founder, CEO SciCom - Making Sense of Science; Member of the Governing Board of Euroscience.

Science Policy - European Science Open Forum (ESOF), Copenhagen
15h00 – 17h45, Wednesday 25 June 2014 (Pompeii Hall, Carlsberg Academy)

Session Description

A global village, an interconnected world, a harmonious scientific community: these are some of the well-quoted end points of science diplomacy. As we strive to understand and mitigate challenges: in climate change, energy and resource efficiency, health and demographic change, food security and the digital divide, global partnerships must be built and sustained. This is not easy. Neither is a one-size-fits-all approach always the best option.

Protecting difference and promoting winner-takes-all scientific competition is equally important. We will spotlight decision makers from Brussels, Cape Town and Washington responsible for striking this balance. They influence the largest budgets in global science. Their mandate is to place discovery and innovation at the core of international politics. Their success is measured against creating the necessary knowledge, jobs and growth to see the developed and developing world through the downturn. Their goal of achieving sustainable development and alleviating poverty is shared.

An important focus will be Africa's determination to not only harness science and technology for the continent's development, but to become a full and active partner in global knowledge partnerships. Progress towards a European Innovation Union with dynamic international cooperation links will be assessed. American insights into concrete actions and the strong international dimension required will be examined. Best practices and pitfalls will be identified.

Session Format: Traditional lecture but highly interactive

Session Duration: 2h45 minutes

Target Audience: Scientists, General Public, Policy-Makers

Category: Healthy Society

SESSION PRESENTATION DOWNLOADS: CLICK HERE

	Organiser: Ms Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, Care Of: Daan du Toit, Minister Counsellor (Science and Technology): South African Mission to the European Union (Senior S&T Representative to the EU: South African Department of Science and Technology) Rue Montoyer 17-19 B-1000, Brussels, Belgium Phone Number: 0032473687514; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Co-organiser: Aidan Gilligan, Founder, CEO SciCom - Making Sense of Science, Euroscience Governing Board Member, ESOF Copenhagen 2014, International Media & Marketing Committee Vice-Chair. 121 Rue Franklin, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. Phone Number: +32(0)474042602; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Moderator: Lidia Brito, Director, Division of Science Policy & Sustainable Development, UNESCO, 1, rue Miollis, 75732 – Paris, France. Phone: + 33 1 45 68 41 63; E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Discussant: Mr. Clive Cookson, Research Editor, Financial Times, 1 Southwark Bridge, SE1 9HL, London, UK. Phone Number: +442078733000; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Discussant: Sir Peter Gluckman, Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand’s science Advisory Committee, First Chief Science Adviser to the New Zealand Prime Minister, 2-6 Park Avenue, Grafton 1023, Auckland, New Zealand. Phone: +6499231788; E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Presentation Title: A United Europe of Innovation States

Speaker 1: Mr. Robert-Jan Smits,
Director-General of DG Research & Innovation (RTD), European Commission, Research Directorate-General of the European Commission, SDME 10/027; Brussels 1040, Belgium. Phone number: +32 2 2963296; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Talk Description:

As our ambitious Horizon 2020 Strategy is placed firmly on the rails, potentially revolutionising the place of science and innovation in the European Union, I will provide timely insights into those inter-regional and global cooperation imperatives that shaped its very existence. Concrete case-studies around flagship European initiatives from the digital agenda and industrial policy to the strategy on innovation, jobs and employment, will underpin how the European Commission proposes to transform EU research structures while completing the ambitious European Research Area. Key to their success are plans led by Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn to grow and capitalise on the innovation capacity and capability of actors from higher education, research, business and entrepreneurship from the EU and beyond. My talk will spotlight these efforts and their strong international dimension.

Presentation Title: Scientific Cooperation In & With Africa

Speaker 2: Ms Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor,
Care Of: Daan du Toit, Minister Counsellor (Science and Technology): South African Mission to the European Union (Senior S&T Representative to the EU: South African Department of Science and Technology) Rue Montoyer 17-19 B-1000, Brussels, Belgium Phone Number: 0032473687514; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Talk Description:

My talk will evidence South Africa’s determination to become one of the most competitive knowledge-based economies. Our Ten Year Innovation Plan is a blueprint for scientific cooperation inside South Africa, with Africa and with the world. It spans space science and astronomy to better understanding the human and social dynamics of societies in transition. Membership of the BRICS, the appointment of a South African to lead the African Union and the award of the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope are indicative of South Africa and Africa’s ambition to contribute to global scientific enterprise. Yet, this equal-partner role often risks being overlooked. I will spotlight pan-African efforts to address grand challenges in health and energy. I will evidence how we actively pursue these objectives via dynamic international partnerships. Our message is clear: science is not a reward but an instrument for development and South Africa and Africa are determined to harness its full potential.

Presentation Title: A Crucial Moment For Science Cooperation

Speaker 3: Dr. Alan Leshner,
CEO American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) & Executive Publisher, Science Magazine, Washington DC, USA

Talk Description:

The first Obama administration dramatically increased S&T investment and elevated science in policy-making. This acted as a carrier-wave for science globally. Regardless of prospective cuts now, international S&T cooperation has gained renewed prominence as a tool for bettering relations and addressing global challenges. My talk will examine the feasibility of a truly global scientific enterprise. I will assess the challenges ahead. How should we incorporate rising scientific communities such as China into our Western-oriented structure? How can we cooperate while competing for scarce resources, evidenced by a new scramble for Africa? How can we address tensions between scientific information and societal and political directions? All governments face challenges in terms of how science is viewed and used. My talk will offer educated guesses about how we might foster competition while sharing discovery and innovation, and in the process, keep the general public on-board.