Brief Report of STS forum 2020
— The 17^th Annual Meeting

The 17^th Annual Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society forum (STS forum) took place from October 3 to 6, 2020 live online from the Kyoto International Conference Center, with virtual participation of about 1,500 global leaders in science and technology, policymaking, business, and media from nearly 100 countries and regions, and 20 international organizations. There were 15 sessions in all, with 113 speakers from 37 countries, regions and international organizations.

The overarching theme of this year's annual meeting was "The Role of Science and Technology in the Post COVID-19 Era," and there were four sessions with themes specifically tied to COVID-19. The first was Session 102 – Science and Technology in COVID-19 Pandemic, which was chaired by Dr. McKinnell and attended by special guests Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases U.S.A., and Prof. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor of Communication & Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania.

The session's discussions centered on advances in understanding and treating COVID-19, including the ongoing development of vaccines, as well as ways to most effectively communicate the related scientific information to the public and gain its trust. Dr. Fauci underlined the importance of improving scientific literacy through education and scientific communication, in particular the need for society to understand that science is not a linear process, but a series of successes and failures that scientists build upon. Community outreach will also be necessary to build trust among communities that are skeptical of medical science and to ensure the rapid deployment of any future effective vaccines. Asked by Dr. McKinnell for medical advice for protecting oneself from COVID-19, Dr. Fauci first advocated good public health practices, namely wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds, doing activities outdoors rather than indoors, and washing hands. He also recommended looking after personal health, including good sleep, good nutrition, avoiding stress, and avoiding excess.

The second day included Session 200 – Science and Technology Education for Society and Session 201 – Science and Technology in Business. In the former, Ms. Karen Andrews, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Australia, emphasized the importance of education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, and also the value of the STEM-educated workforce, believing science and technology to be key to the future prosperity and wellbeing of society. In the latter, Dr. Ilham Kadri, Chief Executive Officer, Solvay, expressed the belief that no company will have a future if it does not raise the bar on sustainability, calling sustainability businesses' license to operate, and that there is no sustainability without chemistry.

The first session of day three was Session 300 – Cooperation and Collaboration in Science and Technology. During the session, Prof. Fabiola Gianotti, Director General, European Organization for Nuclear Research, spoke of the inherent multilateral nature of science, its role as a tool for innovation, and its unifying nature, while Prof. Dr. Erwin Neher, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine (1991) and Research Director, Emeritus, Department of Membrane Biophysics, Max Planck Society, discussed the conflict between cooperation and competition in science and technology, and argued for the benefits of cooperation, particularly in the present situation surrounding the COVID-19 crisis.

In the following session, Session 301 – Global Governance of Information, Dr. Sudip S. Parikh, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), reported on AAAS' current efforts to convey scientific findings and news to the public quickly and accurately, and explained how the pandemic has revealed that it is not enough for scientists alone to be communicating about their findings. In addition, Dr. Leila Zia, Head of Research, Wikimedia Foundation, spoke about the global governance of knowledge and the stakeholders involved in constructing and accessing knowledge, and shared the editing, transparency, credibility, and consensus-building processes employed by Wikipedia. Meanwhile, in Session 302 – Basic Science, Innovation and Policy, Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director, National Science Foundation, expressed the belief that decades of investment in basic research had led to discoveries that have supported the current fight against COVID-19, such as advances in mathematics, computation, data science, and mobile phone technology enabling scientists to track and model the disease, and called for expanded investment and continued international collaboration.

The fourth day was opened with Session 400 – Energy and Environment, during which Dr. Chris Fall, Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, pointed out that while the pandemic has brought sickness and death, it has also shown glimpses of a possible brighter future, with interruptions to economic activities bringing cleaner air to many regions, and new ways of working and living that may be more efficient. Another speaker in the session was Dr. Bernard Bigot, Director-General, ITER Organization, who talked about the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to ITER, the international fusion research project, and how the stakeholders have been working to overcome it with collaboration, trust, and planning.

This was followed by Session 401 – Promoting Inclusive Participation in Science and Technology. In the session, Prof. Dr. Ada E. Yonath, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2009) and Director of The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Center for Biomolecular Structure and Assembly, Weizmann Institute of Science, spoke about inclusive participation at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and commented on the importance of promoting excellence when implementing gender diversity measures, as well as the need to educate society. Next, in Session 402 – AI and Society, Prof. Dr. Yoshua Bengio, Scientific Director, Mila - Quebec AI Institute, discussed the potential of artificial intelligence to be used to enhance social good in fields such as healthcare, agriculture, education, and environment, while also cautioning that the risk of its misuse has also grown as it has spread to broader society.