Direcţia Relaţii Externe

EPFL - UNESCO Chair International Scientific Conference on Technologies for Development

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Written by Directia Relatii Externe

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As a UNESCO Chair in Technologies for Development, herbal the Cooperation@epfl unit has the pleasure to announce that an international scientific conference concerning technologies for development will take place at EPFL on 8-10 February 2010.

The theme of the Conference is technology for development.

It advocates an interdisciplinary approach based on international scientific cooperation and will focus on 3 main spheres:

• Scientific research and development
• Context and social dimension
• Cooperation and scientific partnerships

The links between technologies and development generate questions, firstly concerning the contribution made by contemporary technologies to the sustainability of development in its environmental, social and economic aspects, and secondly concerning the relationship formed by individuals - and more globally contemporary societies - with established technologies. And underlying these questions is the profound conviction that technological expansion and its consequent innovations are intended to improve the lives of individuals, whoever they may be.

It can nonetheless not be denied that technologies have unfortunately only partially succeeded in eradicating socioeconomic disparities, both within and between societies.

The North-South relationship has long been a matter of debate, first in economic and then in political terms, and also from a sociocultural angle. The relationships between regions of the world, between nations and between the populations of these countries must henceforth also be perceived in terms of technology. And here several avenues of thought can be explored: 
 

1. Is technological innovation universal in nature or, conversely, is it specifically intended for particular sectors, does it fulfil the particular needs of certain societies, in conditions peculiar to each context, with particular reference to developing countries?
2. Are there, in developing countries, sectors that should be given priority in order to meet both social and economic and environmental needs?
3. Following on from this fundamental question, the matter of appropriate technologies and technology transfer opens up a vast debate on the choices to be made and the criteria on which these will be based.
   Who are the actors involved directly or indirectly in this scientific development process, in the Southern countries concerned and in the framework of international scientific cooperation projects and programmes; who decides, how and in favour of whom ?
4. The last vital question to ask concerns the access to technologies. Knowing that development research involves costs, usually very high ones, as do its implantation and technical and managerial maintenance, will the scientists promoting new technologies and those managing them care about their development and sustainability, while at the same time ensuring their economic and social profitability?
5. Is this global framework compatible with the diffusion of such technologies to countries and populations with fewer resources and lower incomes, and if so under what conditions?

In an attempt to answer these questions, the Conference will focus on the four priority fields defined by the UNESCO Chair :

1. Technologies for sustainable habitat and cities;
2. Information and communication technologies (ICT) for the environment;
3. Science and technology for disaster risk reduction;
4. Technology for sustainable energy production. 

For more information, please contact:
Laura Bischoff :
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Cooperation@epfl - Vice-Presidency for Institutional Affairs
UNESCO Chair in Technologies for Development
 EPFL - Station 10
1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
Tel. +41 (0)21 693.60.06/60.10 - Fax +41 (0)21 693.60.10 - http://cooperation.epfl.ch 

source: http://cooperation.epfl.ch/page70491-en.html