In Focus 2007

Launch of Archaeomap

Financed by the European Commission to the tune of 480 000 euros, the Archaeomap project (for Archaeological Management Policies) foresees the establishment of an international committee to coordinate the elaboration of integrated science policies for the Mediterranean’s coastal zone, in order to develop a common framework for sustainable development of the zone and preserve its natural, cultural and underwater heritage. Among the pilot sites to be studied: the island of Pharos in Alexandria, Gibraltar, Malta, Carthage and Tyr. The international committee was formed at the project’s kick-off meeting in Palerme (Sicily, Italy) on 7 December. Within this Committee, La Soprintendenza del Mare is to be responsible for overall coordination of the project and UNESCO for scientific coordination specifically. The Archaeomap secretariat is hosted by UNESCO’s Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development.
Website (in Italian)
Background (in French)

Science Cities : The Future is Here

For several years, UNESCO’s Division of Science Policy and Sustainable Development has been cooperating closely with the World Technopolis Association (WTA). United by their common objectives, UNESCO and the WTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding by which they undertook to support the development of science and technology parks (technopolises) by sharing experience, facilitating technology transfer and encouraging cooperation among existing technopolises. Since 2005, both organizations have held joint annual training workshops in the city of Daejeon in the Republic of Korea. More

Conference hears that Arab science expenditure ‘disappointing’

Arab scientists and decision-makers attending the World Science Forum in Budapest (Hungary) on 8-10 November, expressed disappointment at the level of spending on research and development (R&D) in the Arab world, which averages only 0.2% of GDP, compared to the world average of 1.7%. More

World Science Day for Peace and Development

Every year, World Science Day is celebrated around the globe on 10 November. This year’s theme is Investing in science: investing in knowledge, a theme which intentionally mirrors that of the World Science Forum taking place in Budapest from 8 to 10 November. The Forum will be taking stock of the state of investment in R&D and the hurdles countries face in stepping up R&D intensity, including extreme poverty and lack of capacity.

Read the Fact Sheet published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics this month, which reveals that R&D intensity has more than doubled in 9% of countries. If investment levels have also fallen in some cases, they remain stable in the great majority of countries.
Read the Fact Sheet
Website

Gender discrimination limits socio-economic growth, warns report

‘Gender discrimination practices truly limit the ability of many developing countries to grow and reduce poverty,’ warns a report released this month by UNESCO. ‘Much talent is being wasted as girls turn away from S&T careers and as women in S&T become discouraged by discriminatory treatment.’ The report also notes that ‘differences between girls and boys in performance at school are more linked to home and school environments than dependent on innate differences.’ It is thus hardly surprising that ‘women scientists are more likely than their male counterparts to have at least one parent who is a scientist.’ Science, Technology and Gender has been coordinated by UNESCO’s Division for Science Policy and Sustainable Development. Based on empirical research and data, the report incorporates substantive input from institutions involved in science and technology (S&T), gender studies and policy. Marking the start of an ongoing initiative, it aims to spur serious discussion and action in national and international scientific and academic communities, in order to increase women’s participation in S&T careers, enable sex-disaggregated data collection and rigorous research development, and build public awareness of gender issues. The report has been published initially in English but versions in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and Russian are under preparation.

Read a summary of the report in English, French, Russian and Spanish.
(Arabic and Chinese versions coming soon).

For details and to order a copy from UNESCO Publishing, click here.
For background, contact the coordinator.

A master plan to 2020 for science and technology in Mongolia

Mongolia has just published its Master Plan for S&T for 2007-2020 with UNESCO's assistance. Mongolia is endowed with a comparatively strong S&T base but it has scarce financial resources and its scientific capacity is largely concentrated in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. Now at an advanced stage of transition to a market economy after the fall of communism in 1990, Mongolia is in danger of seeing its S&T resources underutilized, dissipated or even lost.

One of the top priorities of the Master Plan is to stimulate investment in S&T by increasing the share of non-government resources in funding R&D (currently 10%), fostering greater collaboration among research institutes and universities, and using economic stimuli to foster science-industry cooperation and joint research. More

Read the Science and Technology Master Plan for Mongolia 2007-2020

A virtual campus for teacher training in Egypt

The Egyptian Ministry of Education gave UNESCO the green light on 13 June for the launch of the Egyptian Virtual School Campus. The campus will be put in place over the next four years and will ultimately train Egypt’s one million teachers.
The project will build on the experience of the Internet-based Avicenna Virtual Campus for science and engineering education, put in place by UNESCO in the Mediterranean basin between 2003 and 2006, in cooperation with the European Commission.
Teachers will be trained using ‘blended’ learning, a method combining distance learning and conventional instruction. They will have access to the Virtual Library and all the other teaching resources shared by the partner universities within the Avicenna Virtual Campus (see A World of Science, October 2006).
Some 27 e-learning centres will be set up across Egypt. Within a year, these should be capable of providing training and tutoring in the e-learning concept, quality control, course production and online teacher training. These centres will form a national network which could serve as a model for the African and Arab regions. More

For details, contact the focal point.
For background, read The Very Real Success of the Avicenna Virtual Campus

G8 UNESCO Forum

As a follow up to the discussion launched at the St. Petersburg G8 Summit last July, Prime Minister Prodi of Italy and The Director-General of UNESCO will launch the G8/UNESCO Forum on Education, Research and Innovation, in Trieste, Italy from 10 to 12 May 2007. The High-level representatives from the educational, scientific and entrepreneurial worlds, drawn from G8 countries as well as developing countries are expected to attend. Representatives will examine the interconnections between the three components of the triangle of knowledge-education, scientific research and technological innovation-from the perspective of sustainable development, and will seek to identify risks and opportunities for industrialized countries as well as for developing countries. Among the main subjects of reflection will be sustainable development and environment, energy and health.

More

Towards an international centre for science policy in Malaysia

Almost all developed countries have well-established science policy research centres providing training and policy advice, in addition to conducting research. In many developing countries, however, this capacity is lacking, leading to fragmented, poorly coordinated science systems. To help remedy this situation, the Government of the Republic of Malaysia has put forward a proposal for an international platform in Kuala Lumpur which would emphasize South-South cooperation. After examining a study prepared by UNESCO's science policy division on the feasibility of creating such a centre. the 58 members of UNESCO's Executive Board decided on 24 April to recommend that the centre be approved by all 192 Member States when they meet next October for UNESCO's General Conference.

Read the report to the Board on the feasibility study. ENG - FRE - SPA - RUS - ARA - CHI

Africa commits to research

Heads of state meeting on 29-30 January at the African Union's annual summit in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) have sworn to boost research spending and develop science education on the continent.

The year 2007 is designated a year for championing science, technology and innovation in Africa. It gets off to a flying start with the establishment of a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization to protect endogenous innovation. (More Eng - Fre)

Science, Technology and Innovation top Africa's agenda

African leaders are poised to support science in Africa as never before. The African Union Summit taking place in Addis Ababa from 22 to 30 January will take as its special theme Science, Technology and Innovation for Africa's Socio-economic Development. The Summit is likely to give a strong push to the implementation of Africa's Consolidated Plan of Action. As the convener of the UN Cluster on Science and Technology, UNESCO contributed both intellectually and financially to elaboration of the Plan and preparations for the Summit. UNESCO has also aligned its programmes on African priorities, as illustrated in Science in Africa (Eng - Fre).

Documents & Links.