SET-DEV project announces its final seminar: “Research, Innovation and Development: the Social Fabric of Science. The policy and ethical perspectives of a dialogue among India, Africa and Europe”

After the presentation in 2 seminars in India and Kenya of the project results, the final meeting takes place in Brussels on the 3rd of April 2011.

The SET-DEV (Science, ethics and technological responsibility in developing and emerging countries) project seminar is indeed the 2nd of a round of 3 seminars that SET-DEV partners are organizing under the title RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT: THE SOCIAL FABRIC OF SCIENCE.

The final seminars round events kicked-off with a one-day open seminar held at the University of Hyderabad on the 29th of March and a second presentation held in Nairobi (Kenya) next 29th of April. The meetings saw the attendance of participants from different organisations, among which, some of those previously involved in the process, some new ones, PhD students, researchers, and professors, representative of civil society organisations, as well as project partners coming from different countries in Europe and from Africa.

Launched in 2008, the SET-DEV project (Science, ethics and technological responsibility in developing and emerging countries) has the main objective of supporting the research systems of India and Africa, interested in developing their own ethical perspectives in the context of scientific and technological research. The SET-DEV project is an initiative funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, science in society area.

The Brussels based seminar is articulated in two parts. The first one is devoted to the presentation of the SET-DEV project and its main outcomes, whereas the second is a Round Table focused on the lessons learned from the project in the perspective of the Europe-Third countries scientific cooperation.

The project outputs whose main goals are to strengthen the relationship between science technology and society, to contribute to the democratisation of science and technology and to allow a cross learning between Africa India and Europe, are: the Indian Manifesto on Science and Technology titled “Knowledge Swaraj”; the “African Manifesto for Science, Technology and Innovation”; the pilot projects carried out in India and Kenya and the Guidelines titled “Technological responsibility. Guidelines for a shared governance of the processes of socialisation of scientific research and innovation, within an interconnected world”; the recommendations on privacy protection in India and Kenya will be presented and discussed.

Information about the event agenda soon available in the SET-DEV website