FOCUS 1

> Switzerland named most innovative country in Europe // 22.06.2021, Swissinfo.ch
The country scored best in all seven indicators used to compile the ranking done by the European Commission. “Switzerland’s strengths are in attractive research systems, human resources and intellectual assets. The top-3 indicators include international scientific co-publications, foreign doctorate students, and lifelong learning,” said the European Innovation Scoreboard 2021, which was published on Monday.

Based on this report:

European Innovation Scoreboard: Innovation performance keeps improving in EU Member States and regions // 21.06.2021, European Commission
The Commission has released the European Innovation Scoreboard 2021, which shows that Europe's innovation performance continues to improve across the EU. On average, innovation performance has increased by 12.5% since 2014. There is continued convergence within the EU, with lower performing countries growing faster than higher performing ones, therefore closing the innovation gap among them. According to the 2021 Regional Innovation Scoreboard also published today, this trend applies to innovation across EU regions.

FOCUS 2

> Urgent government action and investment needed against antimicrobial resistance, says new report // 23.06.2021, Health Policy Watch
Government action against the threat of “superbugs” in most of the world’s leading economies gets a score of less than 50%, according to a new AMR Preparedness Index, released by a global coalition committed to fighting current trends. Great Britain, the US, Germany and France rated highest on a score of 1-100 in an assessment of responses in 11 of the world’s leading economies to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threats.  Meanwhile, emerging economies such as Brazil, China, and India scored the worst in the assessment that looked at national strategy; awareness and prevention; innovation; access; appropriate and responsible use; AMR and the environment; and collaborative engagement. The index was launched by the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), to shine more light on how the governments are living up to their commitments to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Related article: The next pandemic is already here. Covid can teach us how to fight it // 23.06.2021, MIT Technology Review
We’ve known the dangers of antimicrobial resistance for years. What if we used what we learned from covid to tackle it?

FOCUS 3

> Genetics and responsibility: more complicated than we’d thought // 07.06.2021, The Hastings Center
Has the “geneticization thesis” come to pass? Proposed 30 years ago, it stated that genetic science would lead to many aspects of identity, health, and everyday life being explained mainly in genetic terms, disregarding social, economic, historical, and political determinants. At a recent virtual symposium, “we found a far more complex picture than the one imagined in early interpretations of the geneticization thesis,” write Hastings Center senior research scholar Erik Parens and Hastings Center fellow Paul Appelbaum, of Columbia University, who organized the event. “Yes, genetic information can have impacts on individuals – in some cases significant ones. But individuals also can actively – and strategically – use genetic information to advance their own purposes."

FOCUS 4

> New European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies statement on ethics and governance shows how values and democracy are necessary for responsible future making // 09.06.2021, European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies 
Today the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) published its Statement “Values for the future: the role of ethics in European and global governance”. The group suggests that only a profoundly inclusive deliberation on values can ensure a shared, egalitarian and sustainable future making. The Statement provides important perspectives on the role of ethics in human societies and their governing institutions. Looking at the current crises the global community faces, from the pandemic to climate change and migration, it warns about the increasing pressure on values and fundamental rights. The Statement emphasises how every human intervention in the world is shaped by values – whether consciously or unconsciously, explicitly or implicitly. It brings to light the resulting importance of ethics, a need for a more ambitious and proactive ethics and the close links between ethics and participatory governance and democratic principles.

FOCUS 5

> A new world order for science // 24.06.2021, AXIOS

The world's scientific power centers have shifted — and now researchers and nations collaborating on science with the U.S. and China face getting caught up in their broader competition. Why it matters? Both the U.S. and China are linked to other global research players that are poised to shape science and innovation in the coming decades — and that would feel the ripple effects of partnerships frayed by geopolitics.

FOCUS 6

> A COVID-19 vaccine plant in Africa? This is what it would take to build one // 21.06.2021, The Conversation

The COVID-19 crisis has revived discussions on localising vaccine manufacturing to the African region to reduce the dependence on imports. The fact that Africa is lagging so far behind on the COVID-19 vaccination compared with Europe and North America has highlighted the importance of the issue. Most African countries depend on the WHO-sponsored COVAX scheme, which buys COVID-19 vaccines from manufacturers by pooling demand, thus enhancing their bargaining power. It also offers discounts for least developed countries. However, the scheme is underfunded and competes with national authorities procuring vaccines directly from the manufacturers, and thus lacking a secure supply. Moreover, the supply shortage became worse when the Serum Institute of India, previously the main supplier to COVAX, focused on domestic needs when the pandemic spread in India. So what would actually be needed to localise vaccine manufacturing in Africa?

Related article: COVID-19: First mRNA vaccine tech transfer hub a ‘great step forward’ // 21.06.2021, UN News

FOCUS 7

> Indigenous Peoples’ food systems: Insights on sustainability and resilience from the front line of climate change // 25.06.2021, FAO

This publication provides an overview of the common and unique sustainability elements of Indigenous Peoples' food systems, in terms of natural resource management, access to the market, diet diversity, indigenous peoples’ governance systems, and links to traditional knowledge and indigenous languages. While enhancing the learning on Indigenous Peoples food systems, it will raise awareness on the need to enhance the protection of Indigenous Peoples' food systems as a source of livelihood for the 476 million indigenous inhabitants in the world, while contributing to the Zero Hunger Goal. In addition, the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016-2025) and the UN Food Systems Summit call on the enhancement of sustainable food systems and on the importance of diversifying diets with nutritious foods, while broadening the existing food base and preserving biodiversity. This is a feature characteristic of Indigenous Peoples'food systems since hundreds of years, which can provide answers to the current debate on sustainable food systems and resilience.

FOCUS 8

> WHO, World Trade Organization & World Intellectual Property Organization Map Out Joint Approach to COVID Pandemic // 24.06.2021, Health Policy Watch

In a first-ever tripartite meeting this year, the heads of the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),  have agreed to step up their collaboration on tools and resources for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was the first formal tripartite meeting since Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (middle in the picture) was elected as head of WTO earlier this spring, following the election of Daren Tang (right in the picture; Daren Tang is also a GESDA Diplomacy Moderator) as the new head of WIPO late last year. (Left in the picture: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, DG WHO). In a joint statement issued following their meeting 15 June, the three agency heads stated that they would ramp up cooperation focusing first on “the organization of practical, capacity-building workshops to enhance the flow of updated information on current developments in the pandemic and responses to achieve equitable access to COVID-19 health technologies.

FOCUS 9

> A rapid response to the surging crisis // 23.06.2021, OIE
In 2020, the World Organisation for Animal Health OIE played an active part in understanding and curbing the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020, it was already leveraging one of its most precious assets: its global network of experts. It created ad hoc groups of experts from all over the world to share scientific knowledge, advice and guidelines in dealing with the situation. At the same time, its rumour tracking service screened more than 100,000 news press articles to provide a picture of the global sanitary crisis that was as exact as possible. Daily reports were shared to monitor the spread of the disease closely. New commitments were made to support Veterinary Services, reinforce the One Health approach and step up global health management.

GOOD READS ABOUT GESDA'S PLATFORMS THEMES

Platform 1: Quantum Revolution & Advanced AI

Artificial intelligence

> DeepMind wants to use its AI to cure neglected diseases //23.06.2021, WIRED

> Sustainability solution or climate calamity? The dangers and promise of cryptocurrency technology // 20.06.2021, UN News

> Grand Prize Winner Announced in $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE Competition // 23.06.2021, Businesswire

Quantum and physics 

> Quantum advantage for neural networks // June 2021, Nature Compuational Science
Quantum computing offers promises of increasing computational efficiency and capability. However, there are still debates on whether and how this quantum advantage can be achieved. In this issue, Amira Abbas et al. showcases that a well-designed quantum neural network can learn a broader class of functions without compromising accuracy when compared to its classical counterparts.

> Quantum data link established between two distant Chinese cities // 21.06.2021, New Scientist

Based on this article:
Field test of twin-field quantum key distribution through sending-or-not-sending over 428 km // Physical Review Letters 

> The smallest quantum computer yet // 17.06.2021, Physics

> Clearing the way toward robust quantum computing // 16.06.2021, MIT News
 

Platform 2: Human Augmentation

Neurosciences 

> Implantable brain device relieves pain in early study // 21.06.2021, MedicalXpress

Genomics

> Computers design precise genetic programs // 22.06.2021, NIH press release

> Selfish genes fight each other with DNA-destroying CRISPR systems // 22.06.2021, New Scientist

Longevity and health

> Fight over covid’s origins renews debate on risks of lab work // 21.06.2021, The New York Times
Talk of ‘gain-of-function’ research, a muddy category at best, brings up deep questions about how scientists should study viruses and other pathogens.

> NIH scientists describe “multi-kingdom dialogue” between internal, external microbiota // 23.06.2021, NIH

> We're living longer, but not cheating death // 17.06.2021, Futurity

Platform 3: Eco-regeneration & Geoengineering

Resources

> The deep ocean has ‘answers to problems we don’t even know we have yet’ // 23.06.2021, Geneva Solutions

> «Les biologistes ne sont pas seuls à lutter pour la conservation de la nature» // 21.06.2021, Heidi.news
Spécialisée dans le droit de la mer, Valérie Wyssbrod travaille principalement sur la conservation des aires marines protégées et la réglementation autour des ressources génétiques des océans, ressources convoitées pour leur potentiel pharmaceutique.

Energy 

> The race to build a commercial fusion reactor hots up // 23.06.2021, The Economist

> Crown ethers improve perovskite solar cell stability // 25.06.2021, EPFL press release


Space

> Space Force has to prepare for operations beyond Earth’s orbit // 23.06.2021, Spacenews.com

> NASA inches closer to printing artificial organs in space // 18.06.2021, MIT Technology Review

Climate and environment

> Fear of geoengineering is really anxiety about cutting carbon // 25.06.2021, Bloomberg

> Crushing climate impacts to hit sooner than feared: draft UN report // 23.06.2021, AFP

> Key climate talks are headed for trouble after G-7 wrangling // 18.06.2021, Bloomberg

Platform 4: Science & Diplomacy

> Stewardship of global collective behavior // 06.07.2021, PNAS

> Six more African countries needed to ratify treaty creating the first continent-wide medicines regulator // 23.06.2021, Health Policy Watch

OF INTEREST

> EU bars Switzerland from Horizon Europe as it tells UK to start applying for grants // 23.06.2021, Science|Business

> If you say ‘science is right,’ you’re wrong (op-ed by Naomi Oreskes) // July issue 2021, Scientific American
It can’t supply absolute truths about the world, but it brings us steadily closer.

> FLI announces $25M grants program for existential risk reduction // 16.06.2021, Future of Life Institute
The Future of Life Institute is delighted to announce a $25M multi-year grant program aimed at reducing existential risk. Existential risks are events that could cause human extinction or permanently and drastically curtail humanity's potential, and currently efforts to mitigate these risks receive remarkably little funding and attention relative to their importance. This program is made possible by the generosity of cryptocurrency pioneer Vitalik Buterin and the Shiba Inu community.

> The best places to look for extraterrestrial life in the solar system, ranked // 16.06.2021, MIT Technology Review

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

TOOLS, RESOURCES AND PARTNERS

> Inclusion in citizen science: The conundrum of rebranding // 25.06.2021, Science
As the scientific community, like society more broadly, reckons with long-standing challenges around accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, we would be wise to pay attention to issues and lessons emerging in debates around citizen science. When practitioners first placed the modifier “citizen” on science, they intended to signify an inclusive variant within the scientific enterprise that enables those without formal scientific credentials to engage in authoritative knowledge production. Given that participants are overwhelmingly white adults, above median income, with a college degree, it is clear that citizen science is typically not truly an egalitarian variant of science, open and available to all members of society, particularly those underrepresented in the scientific enterprise. Some question whether the term “citizen” itself is a barrier to inclusion, with many organizations rebranding their programs as “community science.” But this co-opts a term that has long referred to distinct, grassroots practices of those underserved by science and is thus not synonymous with citizen science. Swapping the terms is not a benign action. Our goal is not to defend the term citizen science, nor provide a singular name for the field. Rather, we aim to explore what the field, and the multiple publics it serves, might gain or lose by replacing the term citizen science and the potential repercussions of adopting alternative terminology.

>  Ein schlummerndes Potential für Mitmach-Forschung // 21.06.2021, Blick
Immer mehr Forschungsprojekte binden Laien ein - sie vergraben Unterhosen, zählen Ameisen, und klassifizieren Galaxien. Aber nur wenige Menschen sind mit sogenannter Citizen Science und partizipativer Forschung vertraut, interessiert mitzumachen wären aber viele.

BOOKS

> Une Europe géopolitique ? // 23.06.2021, Iris 

Dossier sous la direction de Maxime Lefebvre et Édouard Simon

Si l’Union européenne (UE) s’est depuis longtemps dotée d’une politique étrangère et d’une politique de sécurité et de défense communes, c’est dans la période la plus récente qu’elle a pris véritablement conscience de la nécessité d’une affirmation géopolitique. Diverses crises, notamment au cours des dix dernières années, sont venues rappeler que ce projet à visée d’abord interne ne pouvait faire l’impasse sur le monde extérieur, et que cette intégration, qui s’est avant tout pensée comme la fin de puissance, ne pouvait faire l’économie des rapports de force. Ursula von der Leyen a ainsi évoqué une « Commission géopolitique » à son arrivée à la tête de l’exécutif européen, après les élections européennes de 2019. Le président du Conseil européen, Charles Michel, et le haut représentant pour les affaires étrangères et la politique de sécurité, Josep Borrell, ont repris le concept d’« autonomie stratégique » européenne. Au moins au niveau des mots, l’Europe cherche donc à parler le langage de la puissance. Mais où en est-on de ces ambitions ? Que signifie une Europe géopolitique ? À la veille de la Conférence sur l’avenir de l’Europe et de la présidence française de l’UE, ce numéro de La Revue internationale et stratégique appréhende la question en plusieurs dimensions : le débat sur l’autonomie stratégique, le positionnement de l’Europe dans la compétition géopolitique des puissances, la défense, la relance économique, la dimension externe du pacte migratoire, ainsi que la question de la démocratie.

EVENTS

> Future Circular Collider: what, why and how? // 30.06.2021, 5 pm BST / 6pm CEST on 30 June 2021, organized by CERN
Three expert panellists will introduce the motivation for and status of the proposed Future Circular Collider at CERN, followed by a discussion and live questions from the audience, moderated by CERN Courier editor Matthew Chalmers.

> Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health // 28.06.2021, 12:00 CEST, policy makers webinar organized by WHO

Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great promise for improving the delivery of healthcare and medicine worldwide, but only if ethics and human rights are put at the heart of its design, deployment, and use. On 28 June 2021, WHO will launch its first global report on AI’s role in health and six guiding principles for its design and use.  The report, Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health, is the result of two years of consultations held by a panel of international experts appointed by WHO.