Plenary 5: Making Europe a leader in the next era of scientific discovery

Recent geopolitical turmoil and the emergence of powerful general-purpose technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology are radically changing the geography of science. The combination of these technologies with domain-specific research promises to massively accelerate the pace of innovation, potentially addressing looming mysteries in science, finding new and better cures for global diseases, mitigating and inverting the impact of climate change and biodiversity loss, and bringing the world back within planetary boundaries.

At a time in which the United States seem less eager to promote trust in science, and China gradually gains leadership in many scientific revolutions, is there a role for Europe? Does its current science and technology policy have the needed ambition? From the Geneva-based CERN to the forthcoming AI gigafactories, this session gathers the views of leading scientists and projects the audience into the next decade, drawing insights and recommendations on future European scientific ventures, ensuring that their ultimate benefits are public, ethically aligned and shared with the rest of the world.