09h00 – 13h15, Monday 9th July 2018, Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Toulouse.

Organised by SciCom – Making Sense of Science, hosted by the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Toulouse and facilitated by the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) this select, but balanced, gathering of 35 key global influencers working at the industry & policy-making interface is planned as a summit-style, curtain-raiser to ESOF 2018.

Participants include the CSOs and CTO’s of leading household brands and niche industries, CEOs of funding agencies, Chief Science Advisers and leading Academicians, plus the talking heads of civil society groups, think tanks and media.

Our common aim is to examine the ‘Roles & Responsibilities’ of industrial science so as to produce an immediate set of common recommendations at ESOF to be followed-up by more in-depth studies by the INGSA family of over 5000 global members.

This invitation only, expert-driven meeting under Chatham House Rules is designed to allow participants at the height of their professions - and sometimes finding each other on different sides of the fence - to take a step back, to debate with and to learn from each other on a level playing field.

The features that set this initiative apart are:

a) its purposeful focus on industry as the largest investor in knowledge generation, technology and science;
b) its openness to ‘all’ stakeholders practicing valid research;
c) the quality of the anticipated dialogue, inputs and outcomes; &
d) the unique facilitation method applied by SciCom – Making Sense of Science and the International Network of Government Science Advice (INGSA).

This is the first time that the SciCom-INGSA partnership has focused on an industrial science round-table dialogue. In so doing, we aim to take a closer look at the 2016 Brussels Declaration’s Articles 14 – 17 on ‘what we expect from the public, media, industry and interest groups’. This will help all concerned to better understand the role of personality and politics, coalition building and pressure groups, big business and even bad timing, around some of our most pressing global issues, while sharing the latest knowledge on new developments.

This engagement is conceived and convened by Euroscience Governing Board Member & SciCom – Making Sense of Science CEO, Aidan Gilligan, as part of a thematic series of events since 2012 looking at issues of extreme importance to the global science & society community.

Sample of invited public & private sector scientists, policy-makers, practitioners, national academies, scientific societies & civil society thought-leaders:

Airbus; Altran Group; Accor; Air France; BASF; Bayer; Cap Gemini; Chamber of Commerce & Innovation of Toulouse; Department of S&T, Government of South Africa; Elsevier; Engie; Enedis; European Group on Ethics for Science & New Technologies; European Research Council; Euroscience; French Tech; International Network of Government Science Advice; IRT Saint-Exupéry; Johnson & Johnson; Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health; L’Oreal, McKenzie; Nestlé; Pierre Fabre; Poult; Sanofi; Robert Bosch Stiftung; SciCom – Making Sense of Science; Science et Avenir; Science Business; Science Foundation Ireland; Suez; Toulouse White Biotechnology; UNESCO; Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées; UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office; US National Academy of Sciences.

	Host & Speaker: Welcome address & brief tour de table. Philippe Robardey (FR): President of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Toulouse Haute-Garonne.
	Organiser & Moderator: Aidan Gilligan (IRL): Founder & CEO, SciCom – Making Sense of Science; Elected Member, EuroScience Governing Board; Vice-Chair, ESOF 2018 International Media & Marketing Committee.
	Co-Organiser & Discussion Lead: Managing risk and uncertainty while promoting innovation. Sir Peter Gluckman (NZ): Chairman of the International Network for Government Science Advice; Former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of New Zealand.
	Discussion Lead: Addressing perceptions of public-private partnerships: group insights. Ms Seema Kumar (IND): Vice President of Innovation, Global Health & Policy Communication at Johnson & Johnson; Founding Sponsor & Corporate Member, Euroscience.
	Discussion Lead: What are the factors taken into account by the policy-making community & why? Prof. Mark Ferguson (IRL): Director General, Science Foundation Ireland; Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland & Corporate Member, Euroscience (Host, ESOF 2012 Dublin). Formerly Co-founder, CEO & Chairman of Renovo plc.
	Discussion Lead: What are the roles and responsibilities of scientists working in industry? Prof. Jérôme Vicente (FR): Head of Research, PhD and Research Transfer, University of Toulouse.
	Discussion Lead: Capturing high-level consultation event recommendations. Dr Vaughan Turekian (USA): Executive Director for Policy & Global Affairs at the US National Academies of Sciences; Former Chief Science Adviser to Secretaries of State John Kerry & Rex Tillson.

Convenor & Facilitator’s Introduction

Understanding industry knowledge, private sector innovation and science advice to government

The private sector is the major source of much of global R&D and drives much technological and other innovation impacting on society. Therefore public policy needs to have a close interaction with the private sector, particularly given the pace of growth in scientific knowledge and technological innovation. However this interaction is not straight forward – there are obviously different incentives and interests in play for different stakeholders, and issues of trust and social acceptance of commercially-sourced knowledge especially in some fields. There are also be issues of ethics, transparency and bias: yet the knowledge and expertise of the private sector is critical.

In a world where trust in institutions and experts is under threat and reliable and unreliable knowledge are not easily distinguished, the need to fund better and trusted ways to use private sector knowledge becomes even more important. Policy making is increasingly having to confron this interface and a set of principles to underpin the relationship betwen private sector -derived evidence and policy making seems to be important.

The Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Toulouse Haute-Garonne, SciCom - Making Sense of Science and The International Network for Government Science Advice are teaming up on 9th July to explore this issue without preconception and together we warmly welcome your particpation in discussion under Chatham House Rules.