The outcomes of the III EISRI Summit were developed in order to support the ongoing discussions held at a European level.
The outcomes were formatted into a declaration to be given to the leaders of the European institutions, the representatives of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, the relevant EU Ministers and other leaders across the EU. They serve as a basis for outlining key actions and priorities that Atomium Culture and its network promote with the Commissioners and European member states.
Additionally, Atomium Culture coordinates the media engaged in the platform, which together reach around ten million readers per day, to arrive at a joint and simultaneous coordination in Europe for the promotion of the main outcomes of the European Intersectoral Summit on Research and Innovation. These outcomes take into account the different views of the main stakeholders on this issue giving an informed opinion and a proactive way to move forward.
As our panellists demonstrated, the world of communication grows ever more rapidly, resulting in the need for more effective ways to communicate and bring about real change to help real citizens. In the spirit of such innovation, the preliminary outcomes of this year’s Summit are presented not session by session but as a synthesis of the whole broken down by category, with each category focussing on citizen-centred outcomes discussed by panellists.
Mr. Ron Mobed, CEO of Elsevier, pointed out that “the sheer volume of research data being created today, without proper management, will become unmanageable”. How to sift through so much information remains one of the major challenges on the horizon. Online platforms for tracking and storing research findings so that others can find them allows for a greater efficiency.
Dr. Gernot Klotz, Executive Director of the Research and Innovation Programme of the European Chemical Industry Council, mentioned that today, “we are information and data giants, but we are knowledge dwarves. I want to question what is said that more information will lead to more knowledge”. Similarly, he continued, “we are knowledge giants and we are growth and jobs dwarves”. A surge of information does not necessarily translate into knowledge, increased productivity, increased standard of living, growth or jobs. Making sure that something positive is done with the latest research findings creates an atmosphere of responsibility toward society.
So how can the leading stakeholders of the the knowledge economy work together to find better ways of developing, sharing and using knowledge in more efficient and useful manner? This is the key question the Summit addressed.
Mr. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing said it best:
“We must not have a debate for the pleasure of a debate . . .we must try to achieve something useful”.
