Dr. Daniel Schaffer
ICTP / TWAS Public Information Officer
Strada Costiera, 11 - 34014 Trieste, Italy
[email protected]
tel +39 040 2240 538
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
30 April 2007
G8-UNESCO TO HOLD WORLD FORUM ON EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
The G8, a network of the world's largest industrialized countries, and the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) will hold a World Forum on Education, Research and Innovation in Trieste, Italy, 10-12 May.
The forum, an outgrowth of discussions that took place at the G8 Summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia, last July, will examine how governments, universities, research centres and industry can work more closely together to advance the goals of sustainable development. Special attention will be paid to efforts designed to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in science and technology. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is helping to organize the event.
Speakers include Romano Prodi, Italy's prime minister; Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO's director-general; Hans N. Weiler, professor emeritus of education and political science at Stanford University, USA; Yury Sergevich Osipov, president of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general, European Space Agency; Robert Aymar, director general, CERN (the European particle physics facility); Isao Yukawa, past-president, Kyocera Solar Group, Japan; and Atta-ur-Rahman, advisor to the prime minister on science and technology, Pakistan. There will also be a special session on science, technology and innovation in Africa attended by the ministers of science and technology in Kenya and Rwanda.
Majors issues to be explored at the forum include: The role of universities in developing innovation and entrepreneurship; forging an integrated approach to research, education and innovation to meet global environmental challenges, most notably to combat climate change; and the reforms in governance that are needed both at the national and international levels to make innovation policies more effective. Issues related to energy, environmental degradation and public health will also be discussed.
The event will take place at the Stazione Marittima Congress Centre, Molo Bersaglieri 3, Trieste, Italy.
For additional information, see http://g8forum.ictp.it/.
