Held every two years in Oslo, the Kavli Prize Science Forum gathers researchers and scholars in Oslo, and features the awarding of three prizes, for outstanding research in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience.
The Kavli Prize is issued by the Kavli Foundation, which was founded in 2000 by Norwegian-born entrepreneur and philanthropist Fred Kavli, in partnership with The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research.
Linking science with politics
Støre emphasized the importance of research for politics. “In the last instance, political decisions are based on human considerations and human trade-offs. Our room for manoeuvre as politicians is in large part shaped by the knowledge you, as scientists, produce,” he said.
Although the scientific community and the political system have distinct roles to play, Støre said that cooperation and better communication between the two spheres will be vital.
Global issues
The foreign minister also commented on the discrepancy between the global nature of many problems facing the international community, and the national policy tools at our disposal to solve them.
For the last four centuries, the nation state has been the primary political unit – a logic that is challenged by increasingly global policy issues, such as climate change. This increases the demand for scientific knowledge.
“As I see it, it has never been more timely for a Foreign Minister to devote interest, attention – and even at times passion – to science cooperation than it is today, given the character of many of the challenges we are facing. Because these challenges are complex: they are national and they are international at the same time; they are trans-national and global,” said Støre.
Partnerships
Støre also praised Mr. Fred Kavli for establishing the Kavli Foundation, which enables the best scientists from all over the world to carry out research and develop new stores of knowledge at various universities.
According to Støre, such partnerships between governments, philanthropists and the scientific community are highly valuable. “While the governments of the world have the prime responsibility, we are also dependent on the involvement of the private sector. We all know how important large philanthropic donations to promote world class science and research have been, especially in countries like the one Fred Kavli moved to,” he said.