The events of the early nineties seemed to justify the optimism that had prompted the United Nations to proclaim 1995 the International Year for Tolerance. The end of the Cold War was to have produced a "dividend" in the form of a world at peace and the financial and human resources to correct the most glaring iniquities. It was a time of "uncommon opportunities for rapid transition on a global scale to democratic ways of life, freedom of the media, and an independent judiciary; food, literacy, health and jobs for all; and sustainable life styles based on harmony between humankind and nature" declared the 1994 report of the International Commission for Peace and Food.
The future kept some of its promises: progress in research and its applications in agriculture, industry and health care has solved some of the problems of an increasingly global economy and society. But this very progress has in turn created contradictions and conflicts: threats to the environment, unemployment, overpopulation, migratory flows, ethnic clashes and full-blown wars and new forms of social exclusion.
Nevertheless, "the problems created by men can be solved by men", as affirmed Willy Brandt. Hence our understanding that we must find ways to transform conflict into an occasion for interaction, growth and innovation: the characteristics of all development.
For example, if development today, especially in Europe, means the construction of large-scale telecommunications, energy and transportation networks, we must ask ourselves how this can take place in a way that is compatible with safeguarding the environment and employment.
These are the themes that the fourth edition of "Ten Nobels for the Future" will address. The broad themes developed by the Nobel Laureates will be discussed in an Italian and Milanese context by economists, business leaders, researchers and leading cultural and political figures.
Given the breadth and importance of the issues, this year the traditional conference in December is preceded by two other encounters: one in June devoted to the relationship between energy, the environment and development, and a second in October examining the prospects for large-scale infrastructure.
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The Seminars
| 6 June | Paths to sustainable development |
"Paths to sustainable development" is the first of three
events that compose the 1996 edition of "Ten Nobels for the
Future", devoted to analysing the major conflicts of contemporary
society.
Progress in research and its technological applications has solved
some of the problems of an increasingly global economy and society.
But this very progress can in turn threaten the environment and
give rise to unemployment, migratory flows and new forms of social
exclusion.
Hence our understanding that we must find ways to transform conflict
into an occasion for interaction, growth and innovation: the characteristics
of all development.
The relationship between energy, innovation and the environment
is a principal source of strong social tensions. How can we produce
and save or recover energy while acceding to the desire to preserve
or improve the quality of life of a steadily increasing world
population and at the same time safeguard the natural environment?
Some of the world's leading experts in the sector gathering
in Milan address these issues, illustrating the results of
the most advanced research and the prospects for the future.
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| 3 October |
Infrastructure, Environment, Growth |
"Traffic jams are not only exasperating, they also cost dear
in terms of productivity. Bottlenecks and missing links in the
infrastructure fabric; lack of interoperability between modes
and systems; non-communication between too many closed and scattered
telecommunications circuits. Networks are the arteries of the
single market. They are the lifeblood of competitiveness, and
their malfunction is reflected in lost opportunities to create
new markets and hence in a level of job creation that falls short
of our potential.
The establishment of networks of the highest quality [...] is
a priority task. It will require a joint, massive and sustained
effort on the part of the authorities at all levels and of private
operators. The potential to create jobs is substantial, both directly
in the short term by initiating large-scale projects and through
the beneficial effect in the long term on production conditions".
These themes, summarised by Jacques Delors in the White Paper.
Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, are the focus
of the debate between the international experts invited to Milan to discuss the role of infrastructure in spurring
development while respecting environmental compatibility.
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| 5-7 December |
From conflict to confrontation |
The century is approaching its conclusion in a climate of growing tension. Conflict springs up between individual rights and collective duties, between local roots and cosmopolitism. It is present in the tension between economic development and the safeguard of the environment, the aggression of global markets and the desire to protect fragile economies, the pressures of emigration from poor countries and unemployment in the more advanced nations. There is renewed bloodshed between ethnic, religious, cultural and economic groups, and between nations.
However, as the International Commission on Peace and Food reminds us, "the perspective the world seeks must be based on a greater understanding of the inextricable linkages between peace, democratization, development, equity and the environment. None of these great goals can be achieved, without corresponding progress towards the others. [...] What are the foundations of this new intellectual perspective and what sort of strategies, actions and results will it lead to? It requires a change in the way we look at and think of familiar things like war, developing countries, democracy, agriculture, industrialization. First, we have to awaken from the millennia-old nightmare that war is a natural and inevitable part of human existence, which can perhaps be mitigated or kept far from our shores, but never really mastered or eliminated. [...] Most of all, the new perspective the world seeks should be based on a recognition that humankind is the master of its own destiny, that the external limits are not binding on us if we tap the unlimited creative potential of our own inner human resourcefulness".
These recommendations are the starting point of the debate among the Nobel Laureates and international experts gathering in Milan, to discuss how to transform conflict into an occasion for dialogue, growth and innovation.
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