Book launch of the 2nd Lisbon Conference
The public book launch of the 2nd Lisbon Conference took place on May 26, 2017, at the Palácio Foz, in Lisbon, and was attended by more than 100 people.
The guest speaker at the session was the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, Carlos Moedas, who spoke about “The role of science diplomacy in peace and development”.
The Commissioner stressed the inevitability of globalization in parallel with the need to regulate or “civilize” it, insofar as it has generated benefits for only a few. He said that growth has a role to play in reducing populism, but only if it doesn’t generate inequalities, because these are at the heart of the rise in radicalism and populism.
Regarding the role of science and innovation, he said that “Europe knows how to do science like no other part of the world, but then it doesn’t know how to turn it into products”, in other words, it doesn’t know how to materialize it in society so that it is reflected in everyone’s lives. In this sense, it is essential to advance interdisciplinarity and Europe’s ability to project its science in the world. A good indicator is the fact that the European Union is an area that is attracting more and more scientists from other parts of the world.
In his speech, Carlos Moedas also referred to some examples of so-called “science diplomacy”, namely in 3 strands: “Science for Diplomacy” (how science can help diplomacy), “Science in Diplomacy” (the link between science and diplomacy in solving global challenges), and “Diplomacy for Science” (since science has a lot to learn from diplomacy on issues of regulating globalization).
The publication “The Globalization of Development” was distributed to all participants. This publication summarizes the speeches and debates of the 2nd Lisbon Conference, held in May 2016, which ranged from sustainability to security, from geo-economic reconfigurations to trade, from the crises of the European Union to Portugal’s role.
The book can be consulted here.
