The OECD conference “Technology in and for Society” will take place as a virtual conference on 6-7 December 2021.

The multi-stakeholder meeting aims to explore values, design principles, and a possible practical agenda for leveraging good governance for critical socio-technical transformations. It seeks to develop a policy agenda to pair the transformative potential of emerging technology with the necessity of good governance: how can we innovate both more and well, i.e. within inclusive processes, with values at the centre, and with lasting positive impact.

1.  To explore how the design of policies related to upstream technology governance can help open pathways for needed sociotechnical change while building public trust in the STI system, and preventing or correcting potential negative effects
2. To pool practical ideas, experiences and knowledge to anticipate longer-term practices, uses and impacts of emerging technologies and develop capacities to promote, steer and cope with sociotechnical change
3. To explore what kinds of frameworks and multilateral approaches are needed for promoting values-based technology, responsible innovation, and inclusive transitions.

Register to join online and visit the website for more information and to view the detailed agenda.

DAY 1: Monday 6 December

11:30  – 11:50 | Welcome and scene-setting by Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary General
11:50  – 13:30 | High-level roundtable: Rethinking technology for inclusive transitions
13:40 – 14:10  |  Keynote by Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard University
14:20 – 15:35  |  Panel 1: Building inclusivity upstream: engaging diverse actors in the development of emerging technology
15:45 – 16:20  |  Fireside conversation: Values-driven development of emerging technologies in an international context

DAY 2: Tuesday 7 December

11:45 – 11:55 |  Introduction to Day 2 and Panel 2 (parallel)
12:00 – 13:15 |  2a) Harnessing responsible neurotechnology for brain health
|  2b) Realising net carbon neutrality: the role of carbon management technologies
|  2c) Innovating global health: Collaborative action where markets fail
13:25 – 13:40 |  Panel 3. Setting goals and agendas through foresight and participatory processes
15:10 – 16:20 |  Panel 4. Tools of upstream technology governance: soft law, standards, and ethics-by-design
16:25 – 16:50 |  Concluding remarks and next steps

First International Conference on Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education will be held on Thursday 25 November from 9.00 – 16.30 CET and on Friday 26 November from 9.00- 13.00 CET, and delivered online from BOKU, Vienna.

The Conference, organized as part of INTRINSIC project final event, will Blend the Three Colours of Sustainability, Entrepreneurship Education and Higher Education for Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education.  

Download the conference agenda and register at the project website.

The focus of the conference is to inspire and engage higher education teachers to embed Sustainable Entrepreneurship Education in Life Science degree programs.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

Delegates will take back to their universities their reflections of:

1. a framework for supporting the development of students’ sustainable entrepreneurial
   skills at life science universities, in stand-alone entrepreneurial degree programmes and
   across the curriculum in discipline specific degree programmes.
2. an understanding of the delivery of sustainable entrepreneurial education in the context
   of the SDGs with new perspectives for future developments.
3. the set of tools developed by the INTRINSIC Project to support the delivery of the
   learning outcomes for sustainable entrepreneurship education.

A Network of university staff and university stakeholders, who have a commitment to
implement education for sustainable entrepreneurship in their teaching and their students’
learning, engaged in the Special Interest Group focusing on Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Education within the Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA, www.icaeurope.info ).

TARGET AUDIENCE

Lecturers, degree programme coordinators, and vice deans and vice rectors for education,
researchers in entrepreneurial education.

PROGRAMME

Session 1 is directed primarily towards lecturers and degree programme coordinators,
Session 2 is directed towards curriculum decision makers in higher education institutions,
degree programme coordinators, and vice deans and vice rectors for education.

Conference agenda

As the follow-up to the webinars held on 4 and 5 November, the Association for European Life Science Universities and the European Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education, with the support of EuBioNet, will held the Workshop “Status and Future of Bioeconomy Education – Learning from EU projects“, which will take place on Friday 19 November 2021 from 9.00 CET.

The Workshop aims to consolidate the current perspective for innovation in education for the Bioeconomy at all levels from schools through vocational education and training (VET), universities, life-long learning and society in general through an open discussion among bioeconomy education stakeholders.

At this link you can download the agenda.

Topics to be discussed as result of the Webinar in the Workshop

In the two previous webinars the focus was on how projects have impacted on the different target groups and identification of the need for new developments in education for the sustainable circular Bioeconomy.

As a result of the discussion the following topics and questions – among others – have been identified, that need to be addressed in the community of Educators:

• Communication with respect to terminology and Acronyms. Do the different
  stakeholder have the same understanding about topics of the bioeconomy? How are
  “sustainability” and “circular economy” perceived in relation to the bioeconomy? Are
  related acronyms (like “SDG” or the acronyms of the projects) known and used?
• How to inform/educate the different recipient levels (public, school pupils, students,
  employees, industry, politicians, funding organizations, investors etc.): To whom?
  When? What to deliver?
• Is there a special focus for Bioeconomy in the macroregions (like CEE) and/or rural
  regions and does this have an impact on the delivery of Bioeconomy education? What
  counts as Bioeconomy in the different marcroregions? Should low value bioproducts
  be integrated? And how can education support the development of high value,
  innovative bio-products in these regions? How can politicians be convinced about the
  need to transition to the sustainable circular Bioeconomy and away from the fossil
  fuel economy?
• How to realise “post project exploitation of results”, which includes the use of
  different platforms and the need of maintenance. How much is this a prerequisite for
  future developments? How can we benefit more from the achieved tools and
  knowledge? And how to integrate this in the development of new projects?

Expected outcomes

• Guidance in embedding the outcomes of the bioeconomy educational projects in
  curricular and other learning environments
• Extracting opinions and suggestions on designing new projects on bioeconomy
  education
• Enhancing and vitalizing networks in bioeconomy education in Europe to promote
  structures which push the development of thematic priorities relating to bioeconomy
  education in EC frameworks.

Registration

Please register online for the Webinar at https://forms.gle/WnuD7AwwDmDytpYeA .
There is no registration fee. Participants of the Webinar (Part A) will receive the login-information of the workshop automatically.

The deadline for new registrations for the Workshop is 17 November @ 17.00.
You will be sent a link to the Webinar venue by email on Thursday 18 November.
The Webinar will be managed from Avans University of Applied Sciences, NL.

Forum Organising Committee

Ingar Janzik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and Bioeconomy Science Center, DE; George
Sakellaris, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, CZ & BioEast; Han van Osch, Avans University of Applied Sciences, NL; Simon Heath, Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA)

The event is supported by EuBioNet

For more information please contact
Simon Heath
ICA Secretary General
Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA)
Email: ICASecretariat@ica-europe.org

World Bio Market Meetup 2021 – Meetings take place Dec 1st and 2nd

It’s not too late to join 400 international bioeconomy professionals at Market Meetup 2021 with no fees, no travel and no obligations.

We’ve launched the digital meeting service for the bioeconomy community, connecting bio-based businesses with an international audience of producers, brands, buyers, investors, manufacturers, and researchers.

Join with Free Access, Premium Access or Premium Plus. Contact one of the team at connect@biomarketinsights.com

We match individuals and connect companies to their next deal via a programme of pre-scheduled meetings. Meet with up to 20 people anywhere in the world via our Market Meetup matching tool, and be connected with just one click. Our meetups provide a cost effective platform for meeting people without the need for travel, hotels and additional expenses. Not only does it preserve your budget, but it’s great for the environment too.

The Association for European Life Science Universities and  the European Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education, with the support of EuBioNet, will held the webinar “Status and Future of Bioeconomy Education – Learning from EU projects“, which will take place on Thursday 4, Friday 5 November and on Friday 19 November 2021  from 9.00 CET on each day.

Below you can find the complete program and at this link you can download the agenda per each day.

The Community of Practice for Bioeconomy Education

The goal of the ICA CoP Bio-Edu is to enhance the quality, offer and diversity of education for the sustainable circular Bioeconomy in Europe, by bringing educational actors in contact with each other, both virtually and face to face. Together, they form a professional network, to

• share experiences and good practices among educational actors coming from different educational sectors and regional perspectives,
• consult with industry and stakeholders about skills demands and educational outcomes can be organized.
• develop educational projects to develop and evaluate new educational materials, strategies and innovative training concepts and

A          Webinar Focus

The Bioeconomy is complex with many enterprises interacting in the circular economy. At all levels of education – from school, vocational education and training (VET), universities and life-long learning – there is a need to develop new instructional constructs or modify existing programmes.  This updating will ensure that we address the requirement to deliver our students with the skills to support the change from a fossil fuel economy to the green circular economy of which the sustainable circular bioeconomy is a central part.

We have invited several EU Commission projects focusing on bioeconomy education to present the outcomes of their projects, or projected outcomes if the project is ongoing, at a series of Webinars this November.  We have asked each project coordinator (or partner) of the project to share their experience with us of how the outcomes of their project have, or will, impact on education for the sustainable bioeconomy.

B          Aims of the Webinar

• Estimate the impact of dedicated projects on Bioeconomy Education on the level of targeted groups in the projects and on socio-economic levels. Have there been measures or indicators for the impact? What do we learn from these case studies? >> Past and present situation
• Estimate the potential and impact of dedicated projects on Bioeconomy Education and consider a capacity building for the future. >> Learnings for future projects and long term implementation
• Examine key differences and particularities on regional level (e.g. “developed countries”, Eastern part of Europe, South of Europe) and how these differences are reflected in Bioeconomy education and according strategies. How is the impact of these differences on Bioeconomy Education? And vice versa: How strong is the effect of Bioeconomy Education on improvement and development in the different regions? That needs to be discussed also at the sectorial scale.

D          Expected outcomes

• Guidance in embedding the outcomes of the bioeconomy educational projects in curricular and other learning environments
• Extracting opinions and suggestions on designing new projects on bioeconomy education
• Enhancing and vitalizing networks in bioeconomy education in Europe to promote structures which push the development of thematic priorities relating to bioeconomy education in EC frameworks.

E          Target Audience

Members of educational or other Institutions (Higher Education Institutions, Universities, Research Centres, Public and/or Regional Administration Private Entities) involved or interested in Bioeconomy Education as well as members of EU projects with full or partial focus on Bioeconomy Education.

F          Webinar Format

The Webinar will be divided in two parts

In the first part, on 4 and 5 November, various EU projects are presented that address the topic of bioeconomy education as a central focus or as an important sub-area. Here, the entire possible range of educational topics is to be covered, i.e. starting with the improvement of social perception, through primary school education and education in secondary schools, university education and vocational training, to life-long learning and learning on the job concepts. This part serves to take stock of projects that have already been successfully completed, but also of one ongoing project.

For the second part, on 19 November, the goal is to address the questions formulated as objectives within the different subtopics along with examples presented at the first part (e.g. actions like knowledge transfer centres, specific programs, new tools, dedicated events or other measures).

Agenda per each day

Registration

Please register online for the Webinar at https://forms.gle/WnuD7AwwDmDytpYeA
There is no Registration fee

Deadlines:
The deadline for registration for Part A (4 & 5 November) is Wednesday 3 November @ 12.00 CET
The deadline for registration for Part B (19. November) is Thursday 18 November @ 12.00 CET

You will be sent a link to the TEAMS Webinar venue by email on Wednesday 3 November and Thursday 18 November.  The Webinar will be managed from Avans University of Applied Sciences, NL.

Forum Organising Committee

Ingar Janzik, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and Bioeconomy Science Center, DE; George
Sakellaris, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, CZ & BioEast; Han van Osch, Avans University of Applied Sciences, NL; Simon Heath, Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA)

The event is supported by EuBioNet

For more information please contact
Simon Heath
ICA Secretary General
Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA)
Email: ICASecretariat@ica-europe.org