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Between Innovation and Democracy: Perspectives from Europe on the Governance of Emerging Technologies

Wednesday, February 18
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

James Wilsdon, Director of the Science Policy Centre at the Royal Society

Advances in science and technology constantly give rise to new economic, social and ethical questions. But how well do systems of governance and regulation keep pace? Spurred on by controversies over GM crops and stem cell research, scientists across Europe have gradually started to involve the public more in their work. They looked first to education as the answer, then to processes of dialogue and participation. But these efforts have not yet proved sufficient. Often, people want answers to the more fundamental questions at stake in any new technology: Who owns it? Who benefits from it? To what purposes will it be directed? Drawing on recent examples, such as nanotechnologies and synthetic biology, James Wilsdon will describe how approaches to the governance of emerging technologies are changing in Europe, and explore the implications of this for a world where globalization is rapidly changing who does science and where.

James Wilsdon is Director of the Science Policy Centre at the Royal Society, the UK's national academy of science. From 2001 to 2008, James worked at the UK think tank Demos, first as head of Strategy, then as Head of Science and Innovation. Most recently, Dr. Wilsdon was also Director of the Atlas of Ideas' project, which explored the changing geography of science and innovation in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Co-sponsored by: The Center for Policy on Emerging Technologies; the Global Alliance for Linkages in Science; The Center for Science Policy and Outcomes, Arizona State University; and The Center for Innovation at the U.S. Institute of Peace.