Co-writing a symposium blurb about Risk, uncertainty and sustainable innovation

Co-writing may be a little bit of an exaggeration but Andrew Maynard over at his 2020 Science blog has asked for comments about a blurb he’s writing for a 2011 a symposium on Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation being organized by the Risk Science center [at the University of Michigan] next September [2011]. Here’s an excerpt,

As technologies become more sophisticated, pressures on global resources grow and society becomes ever-more interconnected, governments, businesses and citizens are facing increasingly complex challenges as they strive to build an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable future. Over the past century, technology innovation has accelerated to the point where scientists and engineers have greater control over materials, organisms and systems – from the atomic scale to the planetary scale – that ever before. This has facilitated a radical shift in global communication, leading to an interconnected society where the flow of information, ideas and influence transcends geographical, economic and social boundaries. At the same time, a growing and increasingly plugged-in world population is placing unprecedented demands on ever-scarcer global resources.

The result is a world where innovation is both a driver of and a potential source of solutions to an increasing number of emerging global challenges.

You can go here to read all of it and comment.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *