Annual Network Presidents’ Dinner

Triple helix: Are innovation, competitiveness & sustainability compatible?

As highlighted in the European Commission’s 2022 Strategic Foresight Report, multiple crises and megatrends are having a significant impact on the EU’s long-term ambitions to achieve fair green and digital transitions, as well as progress towards the United Nations’ 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Navigating through this era of unprecedented turbulence are further complicated by geopolitical tensions and the complexities of securing strategic autonomy in domains seen as vital to the its future. 

For Europe – and indeed any other country or region – to succeed in “twinning” the transitions across sectors and borders, science and technology will have a central, potentially definitive role to play. Yet as the Commission’s foresight makes clear, the current and future solutions that will underpin synergies between them are not without their downsides – such as the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure and the huge demand for rare earth minerals in clean energy technologies.

Against this backdrop, therefore, what are the strategic implications for major research funding and performing organisations? How can European science leaders leverage the findings of the report to make their own plans for the future, in line with the EU’s policy ambitions, and what does that imply for their international partnerships?  And how might the Commission’s foresight work more broadly inform the strategic planning for the remainder of Horizon Europe?  Such questions, and more, will be explored in this exclusive, invitation-only dinner debate, tailored for the seniormost representatives of members of the Science|Business Network.