CODATA 2008 Conference Special Patrons

I am very pleased to be invited as a Special Patron to the 21 st CODATA International Conference- “Scientific Information for Society-from Today to the Future ”. As President of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine I am also very happy that Ukraine and in particular the National Technical University of Ukraine “KPI” are hosting this major International conference in 2008.

Today, the progress of science is impossible without comprehensive and open access to the huge warehouses of data reflecting general facts of natural and social development. The global computer networks have become a powerful instrument ensuring high-speed access to this information from the most remote parts of the world. In this new paradigm the paramount importance is attached to the scientist’s analytical ability to look for and find necessary information, to exactly state problems and hypothesis, to see regularities in sets of data, to solve complicated interdisciplinary problems.

I wish the conference great success and hope it will give scientists, educationalists and especially young researchers a new stimulus for disclosing the mysteries of nature by using the powerful instruments and means of informational society.

Mr Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General, UNESCO

Providing equitable, appropriate and affordable access to scientific information and knowledge is fundamental to building knowledge societies. Since its creation in 1945, in the spirit of its Constitution, UNESCO has placed a strong emphasis on supporting equal opportunities for all people, from all walks of life, to access, create and disseminate scientific and technical information.

The demand for high-quality, accurate and integrated scientific information is greater now than ever. Such scientific information is essential to the facilitation of research and the acceleration of the processes of scientific discovery; to the creation of policies, by policy advisors and decision-makers, that support sustainable development; but also to the mobilization and the participation of greater civil society in the issues of science and technology and in the promotion of the wider public’s understanding of science.

As the leading creators and earliest adopters of ICTs, young scientists are crucial actors in the construction of information and knowledge societies. The creativity and vitality of youth, as learners, scientists, and leaders, in exploring and exploiting information technologies for their own benefit and for the benefit of information society is of the utmost importance.

I am very pleased, on this the occasion of the 21 st International CODATA Conference on “Scientific Information for Society-from Today to the Future”, to see UNESCO associated with this important event, and wish you all every success.

Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs
Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University