HOT BUTTON ISSUES
Canadian Life Science // by Shawn lawrence
Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy at the Canadian Science Policy Conference
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
Canada’s national forum on science policy is back for another year, with the goal of “Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy”. Building on the immense success of the inaugural Canadian Science Policy Conference held last fall, the 2nd annual Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC 2010) is set to take place October 20-22 in the heart of downtown Montreal.
Born out of growing perception that current Canadian science policy has limited external input from academic scientists and other stakeholders, last years event brought together more than 400 scientists, policymakers, senior government officials and other stakeholders, with the common goal to better science policy in Canada. It was initiated by young researchers and has subsequently received a groundswell of support from prominent members of the science community which has led to it becoming an annual event. According to conference chair Dr. Mehrdad Hariri, this year’s event is designed to facilitate collaboration and networking amongst diverse groups including scientists and researchers from academia; senior representatives from industry, government, research granting agencies/ 18 BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUS SEPTEMBER 2010
funding bodies, and NGOs; science policy-makers; science writers and journalists; communications and government relations professionals; CEOs; R&D managers; heads of scientific associations; science studies scholars; students and trainees; and others with an interest in the intersection of policy with science and technology. Spurred on by a belief that Canada deserves an annual forum dedicated to science policy issues, the 2010 Conference’s motto of “Building Bridges for the Future of Science Policy” seems fitting. “CSPC’s annual meeting is Canada’s most comprehensive, multisector, multi-disciplinary event devoted to science policy. With this year’s conference we continue our collective efforts to build a robust science policy network in Canada,” said Dr. Hariri. CSPC 2010 features more than 50 speakers, 14 panels and two workshops, branded across five themes on critical issues in Science and Technology policy in Canada – many of which have never been discussed at a forum on this scale. The five themes are: 1) Increasing the Productivity of Canada’s Economy using Science and Technology; 2) Global Perspectives on Science and Technology; 3) Creating and Retaining Scientific Talent in Canada; 4) A Glance at BioScience in Canada; 5) Major Issues in Canadian Science Policy. There will be panel discussions on each theme as well as workshops, including two workshops on creating and retaining scientific talent in Canada.
