The Gago Conferences on European Science Policy

The Gago Conferences

The Gago Conferences on European Science Policy provide an international forum to strengthen the debate on emerging issues of research and innovation policy in Europe, as well as to promote the necessary involvement of major stakeholders in policy making and the diffusion of knowledge in science education and culture. The Conferences seek also to strengthen international scientific and technological cooperation networking in Europe towards a positive impact on a global scale.

Science and technology (S&T) are key global resources for our collective future, our wealth, job creation and shared prosperity, both at home and abroad. The impact of S&T and innovation are the result of a cumulative, long-term, collective and uncertainty process, involving an extensive division of labour, which requires massifying the training of human resources and qualifying the labour force in many economic sectors. Increasing interest in these processes has been driving innovative research and practice across a wide range of businesses and academic disciplines - from management, marketing, engineering and economics to public policy, sociology, history and law.

"Science is a battle ground, it's not neutral.
And if you know it's not neutral, it becomes interesting.
It can become part of the modern youth culture.
You must choose between generosity and greed,
between peace and war,
and choose between disclosing or hiding the truth"...

José Mariano Gago (2001)

The primary objective of these conferences is to bring together leading representatives from academic, business, social, culture and government sectors worldwide to present and discuss current and future issues of critical importance for European science and technology, including their impact to foster social and economic development and shared prosperity both at home and abroad. Multidisciplinary perspectives are encouraged to provide state-of-the-art and useful knowledge to decision makers in the private, public and social sectors - including informed and effective education, culture, business, government policies and strategies for Europe.

Greening Europe: the next challenge for science and science policy

making citizens an integral part of European science and technology systems

High-level speakers such as ministers, parliamentarians, European Commission advisors, policymakers, academics and other leading representatives from research institutions will gather on the next 15th of October, at the Cyprus Institute, for the 3rd Gago Conference on European Science Policy. The subject of 2021´s edition will be the challenges of the Green Transition.

Greening Europe is the next challenge for science and science policy, as the transition to new, cleaner energy, transportation and industrial processes will lead to unprecedented changes in all sectors of society. Making citizens an integral part of the science and technology systems will be crucial to achieve this transition within the European societal values.

The Gago Conferences on European Science Policy provide an international forum for debate on emerging issues of research and innovation policy in Europe. Ciência Viva, with support of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, organizes these conferences to celebrate the legacy of José Mariano Gago on the appropriation of science by citizens.

The programme includes three introductory keynotes and two roundtable discussions:

Greening the industry - Challenging Science and Employment for a green, digital and social Europe
Greening the planet and agro-food chains – making citizens an integral part of European space-driven Earth Observation systems

Organizing Committee:

Manuel Heitor, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal
Rosalia Vargas, Ciência Viva, Portugal
Costas N. Papanicolas, CEO of The Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation s

International Secretariat:

Ciência Viva Agency, Lisbon, Portugal

PROGRAMME

(Time zone in EEST, GMT+3)

15^th October 2021

Location: The Cyprus Institute

Athalassa Campus, Aglantzia, Nicosia

An Hybrid event: physical and on-line participants

10:00 - Registration

10:30 - Welcome and Opening addresses

Costas N. Papanicolas, Professor, The Cyprus Institute, CEO, The Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation (CREF), Cyprus
Dan Olov Riska, Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, Chair of the CREF Board
Rosalia Vargas, President, Ciência Viva Agency, Portugal
Manuel Heitor, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal

11:00 - Brief keynote addresses:

Simonetta Cheli, Head of Strategy, Programme and Coordination Office, ESA Earth Observation, Italy
Alexandre Quintanilha, Researcher and Member of the Portuguese Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Energy and Territorial Planning, Portugal

11:30 - Coffee break

12:00 - Roundtable discussion 1
Greening the industry - Challenging Science and Employment for a green, digital and social Europe

Moderator:

Fabio Montagnino, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cyprus Institute, Cyprus

Panelists:

Bart Biebuyck, Executive Director, European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), EU
Wilhelm Krull, Founding Director of The New Institute; former Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation, Germany
Vladimiro Miranda, INESC TEC, Associate Director, International Affairs; Full Professor, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Portugal
Graça Carvalho, Member of European Parliament, Portugal

13:00 - Naming of the José Mariano Gago Hall

Interventions:

Manuela Bairos, Ambassador of Portugal to Cyprus
Costas N. Papanicolas, Professor, The Cyprus Institute, CEO
Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal

13:20 - Signature of Collaboration Agreements

13:30 - Lunch

14:30 - Keynote address: Greening Europe and Involving Citizens

Kyriakos Kokkinos, Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Cyprus

14:40 - Roundtable discussion 2
Greening the planet and agro-food chains – making citizens an integral part of European space-driven Earth Observation systems

Moderator:

Rosalia Vargas, President of Ciência Viva, Portugal

Panelists:

Miguel Bellò, CEO, Atlantic International Research Centre - Air Centre, Portugal
Jean-Baptiste Desbois, CEO of Cité de l´espace, Toulouse, France
Tiago Oliveira, AGIF – Agency for planning, strategic coordination and assessment of the Integrated Rural Fire Management System
Pedro Russo, coordinator of the Astronomy & Society group at Leiden University and Member of the Direction of Ciência Viva

15:40 - Presentation of new GAGO AWARDS in European Science Policy

16:00 - Final keynote address: “The Anthropocene on the moving...”

Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office, UNDP

16:30 - Closing - Brief final remarks:

Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Portugal
Prodromos Prodromou, Minister of Education and Culture, Cyprus

17:00 - Closure

The Gago Conferences Awards

The "Gago Awards in European Science Policy" aimed to honor José Mariano Gagos legacy by paying tribute to inspirational leaders, women and men, who have contributed to the advancement of European science and technology, thus enhancing our collective future and shared prosperity.

Costas N. Papanicolas

Professor Costas N. Papanicolas is one of the most distinguished members of the scientific community in Cyprus and a researcher of international standing. He is the President of the Cyprus Institute and the CEO of the Cyprus Research and Educational Foundation. He is also advisor to the President of the Republic of Cyprus on climate change and Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change. He graduated in Physics at the MIT, where he also obtained is PhD. He worked as researcher at CEA (Saclay, France), was Visiting Professor at the MIT, and Full Professor at the University of Illinois (USA) and at the University of Athens (Greece), where he is now Professor Emeritus.

Costas N. Papanicolas was the director of the Institute of Accelerating Systems and Applications of Greece of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) and the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), and of the Physics Laboratory of the University of Athens. From 1998 to 2006 he chaired the Accreditation Council for Tertiary Education of the Republic of Cyprus and the Committee that established the Departments of Physical Sciences at the University of Cyprus. As a researcher, he worked and published widely the fields of nuclear, particle and medical physics; in energy policy and solar energy; and in educational policy, specifically in planning, evaluation, integration, and strategic management and of tertiary education.

He was on the National Advisory Board on Science and Technology of the Hellenic Republic and a member of the Research and Innovation Council of the Republic of Cyprus. He is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society, member of the European Academy of Sciences (Academia Europea), member of the Silk Road Academy of Sciences (China) and Founding member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences, Letters and the Arts.

Professor Costas N. Papanicolas was awarded the “Medal of Excellence for Service to the Republic” by the Republic of Cyprus for his contributions to research and education to the Republic of Cyprus. and he was ordained as “Commendatore dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia” by the President of Italy, in consideration of the outstanding results achieved in his career and his important contribution to the scientific and technological cooperation between Italy and Cyprus.

Miguel Belló

Miguel Belló is CEO of the Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre), an international collaborative framework to address global challenges and local priorities in the Atlantic Ocean. He has a M.S. Degree in Aeronautical Engineering, at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), with an end of Studies Honour Award, a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the Flugmechanik Institut, Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik, Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany), and also a MBA at IESE (Madrid, Spain). He was Invited Professor on Space Debris Environment at the Universidad Politécnica in Madrid and Celestial Mechanics at La Sapienza University in Rome, Italy.

His fields of expertise include Space systems operations, Space system engineering, Earth observation systems and applications, interplanetary mission design, launcher trajectory optimization and Space debris. He has been involved in managing roles at international Space programs and institutions. He was founder and CEO of the companies in DEIMOS Group in Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania and Italy.

Miguel Belló is full member of the Section 2 (Engineering Sciences) of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA); member of the Astrodynamics Committee of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF); and chair of the Mission and Constellation Design Session of the IAC Astrodynamics Symposium. He was a member of the European Space Agency Space Debris Advisory Group (SDAG).

Simonetta Cheli

Simonetta Cheli is the Head of the Coordination Office, Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA Headquarters in Paris, France, a position she took in 2017 after one year as Acting Head of the Office. She was an undergraduate student at Yale University, USA, studying Law and Economics, and has a degree in Political Sciences with a specialisation in International Law from the University “Cesare Alfieri”, Florence, Italy. She then obtained a Master degree at the Diplomatic and Strategic Institute in Paris (CEDS), France, where she submitted a thesis on International Law of Telecommunication Satellites.

She started working in ESA in 1988, as responsible for International Relations Director General’s Cabinet. She then became Head of Public and Institutional Relations Office, where she was responsible for institutional relations with Italy, Spain and Portugal. Simonetta joined the Directorate of Earth Observation in 2007.

As head of the Coordination Office, Simonetta Cheli manages ESA relations with the European Union, the European Commission, European agencies (Eumetsat, ECMWF), as well as ESA Member States. She is responsible for formulating Earth observation strategy and policy, and preparing Earth observation programme proposals for Ministerial Councils; she is a member of the Future Earth observation programme Steering Committee and responsible for Future Earth Observation Review.

Simonetta Cheli is a member of several workgroups within or related with ESA, including the European Commission GMES Advisory Committee and ESA joint undertaking Working Groups on communication on Galileo; the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Earth Observations Committee; and ESA’s Portugal/Greece Task Force. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Institute for International Affairs (IAI). She was Chairman of EURISY Programme Committee Working Group and is a member of several international committees (International Institute of Space Law, IAF) and European Commission Working Groups.

Simontta Cheli also had teaching duties at the International Space University, the University of Milan, LUISS University and Sapienza University in Rome, Space Tech (IUS) and Space Tech Delft. She has published widely in international space, aeronautics, international and strategic politics, international journals on Space issues and telecommunication.

The 3rd
Gago Conference on European Science Policy
The Cyprus Institute

October 15^th
2021

The Gago Conferences

Greening Europe: the next challenge for science and science policy