WP # 6: Think-Tank Forum for reaction and proaction
WP6 Think-Tank Forum for reaction and proaction. One of the things that the Complexity community and the STREPs sub-community miss is a leadership recognized as such. This is in spite very distinguished scientific leaders doing complexity in various application areas and within the STREPs. We have close meetings either triggered by momentous developments or on long-standing problems. Our goal is to engage recognized top researchers. They meet periodically in a think tank format (in the presence of their close junior co-workers) and act as a forum for the development, exchange of ideas, setting priorities, reacting to novel developments and initiating new scientific demarches. In addition to scientific directions they generate ideas for further development of training, mobility, infrastructure development .
In addition to the very senior participants, their (“silent”) junior associates are present at the meetings to insure that the general ideas discussed and formulated during the few days meeting are going to be developed and carried out on later (may be as projects within the STREPs or as European Complexity PhD students).Measure of success: The emergence of a loose but very senior group of (7-12) scientists that will evaluate the state of the art at crucial moments will influence both the STREP research directions and in general complexity research across Europe. With enough charisma by some of them, the group may become a public icon / a role model and induce as such a significant cultural shift in the way the STREPs are perceived by the contemporary society.
Leading institution
GENO - GENOPOLE EVRY - ILE DE FRANCE - EVRY , FRANCE
WP Leader
Prof. Francois Kepes Francois.kepes@genopole.crns.fr
Objectives
With a single meeting format,
- Foster new research opportunities (draft paper)
- Assess the field of complex systems and STREP research (roadmap)
- Transfer knowledge to policy makers (evaluation of solutions)
Description of work
Innovation within the
Complex Systems framework and STREP research, and its coupling to policy making, are essential to increase competitiveness in the mid- and long-term. To this end, our community must experiment with suitable scenarios for interactions among scientists from different backgrounds, and between scientists and business/economic/politic policy makers.
We call the Think-Tank Forum also Targeted Thematic Action (TTA). By asking precise questions that bring together diverse approaches and several different STREPs in a structured framework, it is expected to yield useful answers that will be gathered in a written document. Typically, a TTA gathers a team of 5-9 people. A higher number of participants would not allow real teamwork. The work session lasts 4-6 days. If justified, the TTA may be spread over two sessions, separated by less than 6 months to ensure continuity. The first day of the meeting is devoted to a formal presentation by each specialist, who will try to relate his conclusions to the action theme. The next days are to be used for discussions in private that will culminate in the joint writing of a synthetic document. This document is to be improved during the following weeks, using e-mail and teleconference. To evaluate effectiveness, participants will be tracked by e-mail after event completion.
Instruments
In furtherance of
the three objectives specified above, this community-driven package implements Targeted Thematic Actions with three different flavors.
- Fostering new research opportunities. The goal is to pave the way for new scientific investigations, and to couple researchers from fields that had remained sparsely or not connected thus far. To this end, the TTA-1 gathers a team of 4-7 active and imaginative researchers, and 2-3 young collaborators in case it is foreseen that they undertake a new project based on the TTA outcome (in this specific case, a "double triplet" may be initiated). The initial presentations are made in public. The synthetic document is improved towards a publishable paper. The essence of this document is given in public in the last afternoon of the action in the form of conclusions. Following this initial deliberate action, it is hoped that the action is stimulating those in related fields to work on new projects or on new aspects of their current research.
The chosen themes represent a finely tuned compromise between ambitious speculation and a pragmatic realism that relies on established facts. For example, two quite different examples of themes for a TTA-1 in Biology are: renewing the concept of a cell by examining candidate organising principles or coupling them in new ways; taking inspiration in novel and specific concepts from the Life sciences to imagine new and useful operators for biomimetic algorithms. - Assessing the field of Complex Systems The goal is to assess the merits of various potential paths within some field of STREP research or the Complex Systems paradigm, and to make recommendations to program officers with respect to subsequent European scientific policy. To this end, the TTA-2 gathers a team of 5-8 researchers. Program officers optionally participate to the team when useful. The initial presentations and final conclusions are made in public. The synthetic document is improved towards a white paper or a roadmap, and made available to program officers.
Examples of issues that could be tackled with TTA-2s include the relevance and timeliness of engaging into certain proactive initiatives. - Assessing policiesThe goal is to respond to precise problems/needs encountered by business/economic/politic policy makers. To this end, the TTA-3 gathers a team of 5-8 Complex Systems researchers and policy makers. Policy makers are to be present mostly during the first day to raise their questions, and the last day for an informal discussion around potential solutions. Generally, no public session is scheduled. The synthetic document evaluates potential solutions to the problem.