In the packed Great Hall of the Library of Alexandria, Serageldin welcomed all the guests and participants to the opening session of the BioVisionAlexandria 2010. He went on to introduce the eminent speakers of the inaugural meeting: Philippe Desmarescaux, the Founder of BioVisionLyon and Chairman of World Life Sciences Forum; Koji Omi, Founder and Chairman of the Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum; Mohamed Hassan, Executive Director of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) and President of African Academy of Sciences; Christian Grenier, CEO of the World Life Sciences Forum; and Dr. Hani Helal, Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
Serageldin gave an inspiring presentation, in which he tackled all the conference themes: Health, Food and Agriculture, and Environment. Serageldin spoke about food insecurity, threats to global agriculture, and water scarcity. He called for a second generation of bio-fuels, raising agricultural productivity, improving nutritional content, developing outreach programs for the ultra-poor, and empowering women as a driving force for sustainable development. He also shed light on bio-robotics, synthetic bio-fuels and artificial intelligence, which in turn raise some ethical issues. Serageldin alerted the Arab participants that the Arab world is falling behind in the field of science and technology, a matter which requires more focus on public education and engagement of scientists in policy making. Speaking about the challenges and aspirations of what he termed “the third global revolution: the knowledge revolution”, he called for wisdom in the application of knowledge and technology that are today advancing and changing at a phenomenal speed. The talk, which expertly touched on all these topics in just under one hour, and was accompanied by the dazzling images of Serageldin’s presentation, was very well received by all attendees.
The theme of BioVisionAlexandria 2010 is New Life Sciences: Future Prospects. It aims to identify the new frontiers in life sciences that will vastly serve humanity.
Click here to view a webcast of the presentation.