The Oslo Workshop on International Co-operation in Science, Technology and Innovation to Address Global Challenges

The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research arranged a workshop on international STI collaboration for global challenges in Oslo on May 18, 19 and 20 2011.

The economic challenges of  ensuring  fiscal consolidation, economic restructuring and re-starting  growth coincides with increasing political pressure to meet various social challenges, such as climate change, energy supply, clean water, infectious and neglected diseases, ageing and demographic change and food security.

These challenges are typically global in nature and cannot be dealt with alone by any country. They need to be addressed at a global level, and  science, technology and innovation (STI) are essential to do so effectively.

The workshop was to provide input to the OECD project on Governance of International Co-operation on STI for Global Challenges (STIG).

The workshop was organized into four thematic sessions, in addition to an introductory session headed by the Norwegian Vice Minister of Higher Education and Research, Kyrre Lekve, Deputy Director Yuko Harayama of the OECD DSTI and Distinguished Fellow, Dr. Prodipto Ghosh from India. It was chaired by Per Koch, the chair of the STIG project steering group.

Thematic session 1, Agenda- and priority-setting, was chaired by Klaus Matthes, Science and technology policy adviser to the German OECD delegation. Wolfgang Polt,  Joanneum Research, Austria, presented the relevant STIG work and Regina von Görtz, from the German Research Institute for Public Administration Speyer, talked about “Agenda Setting and Priority Setting in Science and Science Policy”

Thematic session 2,  Funding and spending, was chaired by Thomas auf der Heyde, Department of Science and Technology, South Africa. Magnus Guldbrandsen, from the University of Oslo, presented the STIG study and Flora Painter from the Inter-American Development Bank gave the presentation “Effective International Cooperation  to Address Global Challenges”.

Thematic session 3, Capacity building, technology transfer and access arrangements was chaired by Pierre Fabre, CIRAD, France. Erika Kraemer-Mbula, from the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, gave a general introduction to the topic, while  David O’Brien, from the  International Development Research Centre in Canada  talked about “Globally Dispersed STI Capacity: Is it an issue for addressing global challenges?”

Thematic session 4: Delivering benefits – putting STI into practice was chaired by Egil Kallerud, from NIFU, Norway. There were presentations by  Andreas Stamm,  the German Development Institute, and  by Keith Smith, from the Imperial College in the UK.

The presentations were followed by intense discussions and a lot of valuable input as regards the existing issue paper, global STI governance in general and the work of STIG in particular. The participants were handpicked for their relevant knowledge and experience and included policy makers, stakeholders and researchers from various fields.

The Ministry is preparing a report giving a summary of the discussions. The debate will provide valuable input to the OECD STIG project.

For the complete agenda and links to downloadable presentations, go to this page!