Programme / Thematic Sessions III. b. Basic Sciences Infrastructures for Ethical and Responsible Collaborative Development

Basic sciences infrastructures for ethical and responsible collaborative development was all about how large foundations such as CERN participate in diplomacy, help developing areas, countries, and people from this area in development and education, and change the direction of the brain drain flow.

“Nothing basic in basic science,” was one of the most compelling take-home messages from HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan’s speech. Small or developing countries must invest more in education and basic science, which is the incubator for a better future.

“Cooperation between science and politics becomes ever more important for many reasons,” said Herwig Schopper, former director of CERN.

We must recognise the competence of partners independent of their race, religion, mentality and nationality, and acknowledge and accept real facts and not fake facts. CERN is an excellent example of how science can be a global language. “In times when relations between some nations are characterised by hatred and violence, it is gratifying that science can help to establish a peaceful dialogue between politicians – helping to create mutual understanding and trust.” CERN was, for a long time, the only scientific organisation with the double task of promoting science and bringing nations together. In the council, each country has two delegates: one government official and one scientist. While CERN is a ‘word laboratory’ with a great deal of scientific success, this is the place where the first contact between the West and the Soviet Union was made and the first collaboration between Chinese scientists and Taiwan.

CERN helps to transfer its success and spirit to other regions in need of developing science and technology, and with political frictions.

SESAM in the Middle East, Jordan SEEIIST in south Europe, ICTP in India, and LAAMP in Africa are built on the success of CERN. These infrastructures have significant regional and worldwide scientific relevance in energy and drug discoveries, among other areas.

One of the youngest infrastructures is the Lightsources for Africa, the Americas, Asia and Middle East Project (LAAMP). LAAMP helps people in education and economic development. The training of the students, engineers, and scientists started parallel to the building of the infrastructure all over the world. “Now two beams are already available,” reported Sekazi K. Mtingwa.

The South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) was proposed in late 2016 by Professor Herwig Schopper, a former director-general of CERN. The primary mission of SEEIIST is science for peace, education and technology transfer. SEEIIST will offer 4th Generation Synchrotron Light Source, which would provide a broad spectrum of research and industrial applications, and which contains the Hadron Cancer Therapy and Biomedical Research with Protons and Heavy Ions. Therefore, SEEIIST will be used for science and therapy. Everything is going to be built in an environmentally-friendly way, that is, all the heat generated in the infrastructure is used. SEEIIST will be sustainable from an economic point of view as well, thanks to the medical centre.

Rapporteur: Dávid Beke, Wigner RCP