September 6, 2010 there’s going to be the first ever Kavli Prize Science Forum featuring science policy figures from a number of countries discussing: “The Role of International Cooperation in Science.” From the news item on Nanowerk,

Cooperation comes naturally to science; or at least it should, as the big problems science is called upon to address – from climate change to pandemics – respect no boundaries. And science at its best is a group effort, inclusive and open.

But are competitive forces, now stronger than in the past, working against globally collaborative science? This will be one of the issues addressed at the inaugural Kavli Prize Science Forum, a partnership of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, The Kavli Foundation and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research. To be held on September 6 in Oslo as part of Kavli Prize Week, the Forum is a biennial event aimed at facilitating high-level, global discussion of major topics on science and science policy. This year’s topic: “The Role of International Cooperation in Science.”

The inaugural forum will bring together some of the most influential science policy figures in the world. Among them will be John P. Holdren, science advisor to President Barack Obama, and Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, the first head of the European Research Council and now Secretary-General of the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO). Also joining a panel discussion will be the presidents of the Royal Society, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the Science Council of Japan, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and the Max Planck Institute will also be panelists. (For a full list of participants, click here.)

Moderating the event will be Charles M. Vest, former president of MIT and now president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering.

The science forum is part of the Kavli Prize Science Week being held Sept. 6-9, 2010.