Five representatives from the European Research Council (ERC) are participating, for the first time, in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week.
An ERC session will take place on Friday afternoon (25 January) and focus on developments in scientific research that are expected to be particularly important for society, such as aspects of cancer research, immunology, and quantum physics. ERC president Helga Nowotny will chair the session. She will be joined by Tim Hunt, a Nobel laureate and member of the ERC’s scientific council, Nobel laureates Serge Harouche and Jules Hoffmann, and Viola Vogel, a professor of mechanobiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
“The World Economic Forum is an exclusive event for leaders to think and search for solutions to global challenges,” Nowotny said. “Investment in research, education and innovation is even more important in times of budgetary austerity, in Europe and elsewhere. Leaders from all fields, including business, understand this dynamic, but need to find novel ways of joining forces.”
Haroche, Hunt and Nowotny will also be involved to other sessions during the conference. For instance, Hunt will lead a discussion on cancer research and Haroche is to talk about the implications of quantum physics research. Nowotny will be involved in a discussion on global innovation.