COST Interaction Conference. The Contribution of Science and Technology to the Development of Human Society Basel (Switzerland), 9-11 October 1995

Directorate-General For Research And Innovation

Description

Research policy and organisation

Informations

• Publié par: DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-RESEARCH-AND-INNOVATION
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 16 Mo

Extrait

ISBN 92-827-7020-6
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Edited by E. Reichert
1996 DG XII-Bl - COST, Brussel EUR 16827 EN PUGLISHGD BY TH6 eUROPeñN COMMISSION
Directorate general XII - B-l:
COST Section
B-1049 Brussels
LGGflL NOTICe
Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is
responsible for the use which might be made of the following information
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1996
ISBN 92-827-7020-6
(c) ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels . Luxembourg
Printed in Italy Executive summary page 7
opeNiNG speecHes
Professor Hubert Curien, President of the Conference page 10
Mr Max Metzger, Chairman of the COST Committee of Senior Officials page 15
SUMMARieS OF SYMPOSIA
Symposium A :
Reasonable Exploitation of Earth Resources page 20
Symposium Β :
Development of New Processes, Products and Servicese 23
Symposium C :
Human Dimensions in Science and Technologye 26
PRNeL DISCUSSION page 30 SYMPOSIUM H:
Reasonable Exploitation of Earth Resources
Final report page 48
Communications abstracts
Session Al:
Regional Development and Reasonable Exploitation of Natural Resources page 55
Session A2:
Energy Production and Use page 60
Session A3:
Sustainabilitye 64
SYMPOSIUM G:
Development of new processes, products and services
page 70 Final report
Communications abstracts
Session Bl:
Communication and Enabling Technologies page 77
Session B2:
Health and Technology page 79
Session B3:
Matter and its Changes page 81
SYMPOSIUM C:
The Human Dimension in Science and Society
Final report page 87
Communications abstracts
Session CI:
Health and Well-Being page 93
Session C2:
Communications and Social Networks page 96
Session C3:
Regional and Cultural Development page 99
% execuTive |
|SUMMARY |
In the European framework of COST (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and
Technical Research), the Swiss authorities and the European Commission jointly organised
the COST Interaction Conference from 9 to 11 October 1995 in Basel (CH), under the chair­
manship of Prof. Hubert CURIEN, former French minister for science and space.
In Basel, more than 600 participants from inside and outside the COST networks attended
this event. Over 3 days, they discussed the contribution of science and technology to a
harmonious development of human society.
The conference was structured around 3 symposia
SYMPOSIUM
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THE REASONABLE EXPLOITATION OF
ERRTH'S RESOURCES
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW
PROCESSES, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
THE HUMAN DIMENSION
IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY The conference was accompanied by two exhibitions.
The first exhibition was dedicated to present the achievements of COST Actions. Exhibi­
tion stands were used by 18 single Actions from the COST areas Social Sciences, Medicine,
Environment, Food Technology, Telecommunications, Transport, Materials and Agricul­
ture/Biotechnology. The COST areas Chemistry, Meteorology and Transport were each rep­
resented by an integrated exhibition. Among the various parts, two electrical cars are to
be mentioned. Over 95 COST Actions were presented in a poster exhibition.
The second exhibition was provided by "La Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Paris" under
the title "Science, Technologie et Patrimoine de l'Europe".
125 Actions
17 domains:
Informatics, Telecommunications, Transport, Oceanography, Materials, Environment, Me­
teorology, Agriculture and Biotechnology, Food technology, Social sciences, Medical re­
search, Urban civil engineering, Forests and forest products. Chemistry, Physics, Archae­
ology and Fluid dynamics
25 countries (plus the European Commission):
Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hun­
gary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak
Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom. WHAT IS COST!'
In contrast to EU research programmes, COST cooperation does not require an agreed over­
all research policy. It focuses on themes for which there is particular interest in the COST
countries. With its emphasis on pre­competitive research, COST contributes to a coherent
structure for European research, complementing in particular the EU Framework Pro­
grammes and EUREKA intergovernmental initiative. COST takes the form of Concerted
Actions, which involve the coordination of national research projects. The Actions focus
on specific themes which are targeted by participating countries according to their
research priorities. The coordination avoids duplication of research, at both European and
national level, and helps build larger, more effective scientific communities.
Any of COST'S member countries can propose Actions following a bottom­up approach and
participation is open to all countries (à la carte), including non­members. The research is
funded by national governments. The European Commission covers part of the coordination
expenses, including the COST Scientific Secretariats, workshops, evaluations and publications.
OPENING SESSION ON 9 OCTOBER I995
In her welcome note on behalf of the Swiss government, Mrs Ruth DREIFUSS, Federal
Councillor for Internal Affairs, stressed in particular the following points:
• COST pioneered European integration and opens the door of an integrated Europe to new
applicants ­ which formerly included Switzerland and now includes the Central and East
European countries;
■ COST is the symbol of relaxed European integration;
­ COST is organised in accordance with the bottom­up principle, dear to Switzerland, and
by practising this, it has anticipated a trend within the building of Europe which is
expressed by the subsidiarity principle;
COST is there to serve society: in discussions on technological competitiveness on the
world market, the importance of the public sector for the well­being of our societies is
sometimes forgotten;
• COST is effective: there are few international initiatives which function with so little
administration and bureaucracy.
The welcome note from the European Commission was given by Prof. Paolo FASELLA,
Director General for Science, Research and Development on behalf of Commissioner Edith
CRESSON. He put great emphasis on the pioneering role of COST, which has, thanks to its
flexibility and bottom­up approach, often been the starting point of new research initia­
tives on European level. The Commission has carefully taken notice of the three themes
of this conference, and Prof. Fasella underlined the correspondence with the Task Forces
currently under discussion. Four of them concern topics in the transport area.
The conference deals with these topics within an even broader framework, taking into
account the relationship between transport and energy, transport and environment, trans­