The Tenth Global Summit of Research Institute Leaders

25 leaders of major public science and technology research institutes from 17 countries/regions participated in the 10th Global Summit of Research Institute Leaders which took place as a virtual conference on October 2, 2021.

The topic of this year's conference was "Contributing to Resilient Societies through Science and Technology"

Prof. Dr. Klaus Lieb represented the Leibniz-Institute for Resilience Research in Mainz/Germany. The meeting was co‐chaired by Matsumoto Hiroshi, President of RIKEN, and Matthias Kleiner, President of the Leibniz Association.

Extract from the final joint statement of the participants after the meeting:

"....The theme of our discussion was “Contributing to Resilient Societies through Science and Technology.” Following initial presentations by four distinguished speakers on topics including responses to pandemics and natural disasters, we discussed how public research institutions can help to make societies more resilient. In the face of global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, we are convinced that research needs to be carried out in a coordinated way across academic disciplines and national boundaries, and in a way which serves society. We shared our conviction on the need for flexible and resilient systems to allow research and development to continue also under trying conditions, such as pandemics and natural disasters. We emphasized the need for rules and frameworks to allow data to be shared for scientific research purposes across national boundaries, subject to appropriate safeguards. We strongly believe that public research institutions, based on trust and openness, should play a central role in exploring ways to make societies more resilient through science and technology."