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Minister Andrej Vizjak – Introductory speech
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and on my own behalf, it is a great honour for me to welcome participants to this European Patent Forum and to the award ceremony for the 2008 European Inventor of the Year. We are extremely pleased that the award of this prestigious prize is taking place in Slovenia for the third time. We are also particularly pleased that this European Patent Forum is dedicated to climate change, which is an issue of great concern for us all as well as a focus of activities during Slovenia's EU Council Presidency.
Human impact on the environment is today an undisputed reality. We have to face the fact that it is the environment that pays a heavy toll for human development and welfare. We are all familiar with some of the relevant data - simply cast your minds back to the many plant and animal species that are now extinct thanks to the actions of humankind. Not so many years ago, our planet was considered so huge that it could easily tolerate all human errors. Now we know that even Earth has its limits. At the same time, we have realised how closely events on our planet are related. Environmental degradation or destruction in one part of the world all too quickly affect other parts of the world. We are here witness to ‘globalisation' in the true meaning of the word.
Academic circles have been aware of environmental and climate change issues for some time. Such matters came to public attention, however, only in recent years when nature unleashed its power in different parts of the world. By the same token, our own helplessness was revealed, irrespective of the economic power of a particular country or region. Eventually, the combination of all these factors brought home to us the fact that time for seeking appropriate measures of various kinds is running out and that any action taken will have to be well thought through and meticulously carried out.
The initial reaction to a new challenge is, as it always typically has been, to think about limitations. Restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, bans on the use of particular chemicals, and so on. To a lesser extent, incentives such as tax relief or price reductions for environmentally-friendly materials and products were applied alongside the restrictive measures. When applied jointly and in a planned way, such measures have positive and visible short-term effects, but unfortunately their range is limited. They can slow down further deterioration but cannot eliminate the fundamental causes of the situation or reverse the trend.
If we wish to ensure an appropriate future for humankind, we need to go beyond limitations and prohibitions and find workable solutions which will eliminate the causes of the present situation. We should find innovative, creative solutions to meet most of our needs, and solutions which will be basically oriented towards protection and renewal of the environment.
But here we encounter a further difficulty. The available time is getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, we have to find solutions as quickly as possible and ensure that their implementation does not cause the situation to deteriorate. As a matter of fact, we expect solutions to be tested as soon as they are generated, but such a task is extremely difficult.
The current situation requires appropriate structural changes in research institutions, their active participation in solving specific problems and faster transfer of knowledge from research laboratories to practice. Researchers and developers must find ways to minimise the length of the development cycle. It is necessary, in particular, to ensure quick and constant flow of information about new solutions by linking research institutions at national and international level. Global problems no longer permit local solutions. On the contrary, global cooperation is required to deal with a global problem.
In addition to political and moral encouragement and structural changes in the field of research and development, coordinated financial support mechanisms will be needed to promote development in this area.
Such integration plays an important role in reducing R&D costs and in avoiding overlap of research activities. The problems we face are very complex and we cannot afford to waste resources on parallel research. It would probably be sensible to draw up a catalogue of research and development projects in this area, which would enable coordinated investment in research, and monitoring of progress.
Intellectual property protection systems will have to follow this increasingly rapid pace of development by expediting procedures and enabling faster access to data. Most especially, these systems should provide for the simplest possible access to new solutions for all, irrespective of their economic power. Any abuse of a monopoly position moves us further away from effective solutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, the experts from different disciplines gathered at this forum give us every reason to expect practical proposals for further work and development. I trust that at the end of this event we will have a clearer picture of what has to be done to reach new solutions as quickly as possible. I wish you every success in your work.
Thank you.