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the futuRe of canada’s science policY
BuildiNg Bridges
HOT for the future of ScieNce Policy at BUTTON ISSUESthe caNadiaN ScieNce Policy coNfereNce
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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/ 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.
Under the theme of Increasing the productivity of Canada’s economy using science and technology, the emphasis will be on the importance of science, technology and innovation in driving the economy through tough times. Likewise, the panel discussions under the Global Perspectives on Science and Technology theme will delve into how Canada ranks in terms of science diplomacy, global research infrastructure, as well as focusing on what other countries are doing right. One of the more interesting additions to this year’s agenda is the panels under the glance at bioscience in Canada stream. These panels will give industry a chance to raise its concerns as well as come up with its own recommendations in steering science policy.
All panel discussions will have two main objectives, to identify and discuss current Canadian science policy and where it ranks, and secondly to forge stronger links between all stakeholders and policy makers.
“What we hope to achieve this year is to continue this energy that has built up in the science community, to discuss the issues the science community faces, most importantly to provide a solution oriented conference,” explains Dr. Hariri.
With a new venue and a different theme for 2010, Dr. Hariri and other event organizers are excited by what is expected to be an even larger turnout, estimated at 500 attendees.
“Toronto was great for us last year, but even when we started the planning for this event, we had it in our minds that we didn’t want this conference to be in the same city every year. It came down to several possibilities and we chose Montreal not just because it’s home to one of the largest scientific communities in the country, but also because of the high density of universities, the very large pharma presence, and most importantly because we wanted to reach out to the francophone scientific community, and have them involved in this dialogue to better science policy in Canada.”
Additionally, due to Montreal’s close proximity to Ottawa, Dr. Hariri expects individuals from both provincial and federal governments to be in attendance.
While much was accomplished through the inaugural event, Dr. Hariri hopes this event will do more than just build on the themes discussed from last year.
“The message last year was that we needed new channels of communication among various stakeholders in setting science policy. There were lots of ideas and discussions generated, many of which are being followed up on. Our goal is to renovate our science policy landscape and make it advanced and progressive according to the changes of the world, of the time, of science, of innovation and of the era.”
For information on CSPC 2010, visit www.sciencepolicy.ca.
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