Earlier this month the EU Marie Curie Conference provided the opportunity for world renowned TED speakers to share the stage with Marie Curie research fellows. The event on July 3 and 4 presented a series of personal visions of science and technology, along with research findings and real world case studies. This stimulated several debates on researcher mobility, cooperation, and knowledge transfer. The result was a fascinating two days filled with inspiring perspectives on how to deliver scientific findings using diverse forms of communication including music and dance. We showed that storytelling can spark enthusiasm for complicated and difficult topics in science and technology.
“Research and Innovation (R&I) are priorities at the top of the European agenda for stimulate growth and jobs’ creation in Europe” noted the R&I Commissioner Màire Geoghegan-Quinn. R&I will help to deliver jobs, prosperity and quality of life. In addition, innovation is at the heart of the Europe 2020 strategy, with the “Innovation Union” as its flagship. This approach contains over 30 action points which aim to encourage originality and improve access to financial resources. One of the other goals of this program is to enable Europe’s best researchers and innovators to tackle the biggest issues of the day, such as energy, food security, and climate change.
The stories presented on stage highlighted different aspects of living science. Eve Geroulis argued for the value of having roots in a multidisciplinary and multicultural education. Marian-Daniel Iordache emphasised the importance of courage. He says it’s the key to being smart and effective in life by questioning everything we learn. Philip Weiss wants us to develop creative muscle, shake up our perceptions and try to change our behaviour. John Bohannon, founder of the Dance Your PhD project, showed us how researchers can present science stories through dance. Klaus Stadlmann spoke about the creation of the world’s smallest 3D printer. Raul Rojas explained the future of driving; get ready for autonomous smart cars with multiple laser sensors.
I would like to end with a quote by Mark Luyckx: ”We are going full speed towards a new world of civilization, sustainability and social inclusion. We are beyond patenting and in the open source era, we can find a win win situation where lifelong education is the overall objective of the new post-capitalist era.”
Science is no longer schoolwork - learning has become fun!
Marie Curie Actions: http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/
Innovation Union: http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/index_en.cfm?pg=home
Nadia Ceratto
