Russian Science on
the Threshold of the 21st Century
St Petersburg (Russian Federation) 17-19 September 1998
International Conference
Final Summary
Contents
Introduction
Recommendations to the UNESCO World Conference on Science
Contacts
Introduction
The Conference generated strong interest in Russia and
among other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as among
European countries. It was attended by more than 200 participants. Russian delegates
represented the Russian Parliament (Duma), Government of the Russian Federation, Central
and Siberian branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences (represented by vice-presidents
responsible for these branches), the Universities of Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk
and other major Russian universities, industrial research institutions, public
organizations and funds, etc. Representatives of UNESCO, the European Commission,
International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the
Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (INTAS), George Soros Foundation, British
Council, Earth Data Network for Education and Scientific Exchange (EDNES) and the
Committee on Data (CODATA) of the International Council for Science (ICSU) took an active
part in the Conference. UNESCO's Moscow office and the Moscow office of the French Centre
national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) provided an important contribution during the
preparatory and follow-up stages of the Conference. The Conference attracted a lot of mass
media attention, including from the St Petersburg television channel and national and
local newspapers.
The Conference was organized by the Science Leaders Guild
and hosted by the Vedeneev Energy Studies and Electrification Institute in St Petersburg.
The President of the Science Leaders Guild, academician Vladimir Strakhov, chaired the
Conference. The Executive Secretary of the UNESCO World Conference on Science, Howard
Moore, participated in the Conference and co-chaired the round table discussion on the
Conference's recommendations to the UNESCO/ICSU World Conference on Science in Budapest
(26 June - 1 July 1999).
Recommendations
to the UNESCO World Conference on Science
Governments of countries whose economic systems are in
transition should do their best to find resources to provide enhanced support for basic
and applied scientific research and technological development in their countries. This is
especially important for countries like the Russian Federation, where the high level of
research activities is well-known and highly valued by the international scientific
community. Times are really hard in the Russian Federation and some other CIS countries
where science has been drastically underfunded since 1992. Taking into account the
importance of CIS science for the whole international scientific community, the UNESCO
World Conference on Science can consider to include in its World Declaration on Science
and Use of Scientific Knowledge an appeal to the governments of the CIS countries to
accord science funding and planning in their countries much higher priority than at
present.
Higher education in many countries in transition, in
particular in CIS countries, has become a paying service and expensive for most of the
population. This should be considered an obvious step back and an obstacle to the
development of science. It will badly damage the future scientific capacities of the CIS
countries and of the international scientific community in general. At the same time, it
is more than ever necessary to develop the scientific ability of the population to
increase public participation in the decision-making process related to the application of
new knowledge. With the assistance of national and international scientific/educational
communities, the governments of the CIS countries should clearly formulate the problem and
start solving it.
Modern science functions more and more using information
technologies. Virtual universities and laboratories are becoming 'everyday' tools for
modern scientific international working groups. At the same time, the existing wide gap
between developed countries, countries in transition and developing countries in
communication facilities and in the level of necessary education and training in
telematics may practically isolate the two latter groups of countries from the former in
the near future. Governments of the countries in all three groups, together with the
international community, should do their utmost to prevent this happening and to close the
gap. Research projects on teleworking and virtual laboratories with the participation of
all types of countries should be encouraged.
Contacts
For further information, contact: gvi@wdcb.rssi.ru
or gvi@jpgp.jussieu.fr
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