22 October 2012
Press Conference with IIASA Conference Speakers
Date: 24 October 2012
Time: 11:00-11:45
Location: Press Room, Hofburg Palace, Vienna
Details: To attend, register for the IIASA 40th Anniversary Conference by
sending an email to
Q&A Session with High Level Speakers & Dignitaries
During the opening session of the IIASA Conference on 24 October, attendees will hear discussions from top policymakers and scientists. These three sessions will provide the background for the conference, and set the stage for more detailed discussions of global issues and potential solutions. Speakers in this session will address science and policy support for global transitions to a more sustainable and equitable world.
Following the first opening session, from 11:00 to 11:45, journalists will have the opportunity to participate in a Question and Answer session with key speakers from the three opening sessions. The press conference will include the following speakers:
- Pavel Kabat is Director and CEO of IIASA, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. He argues that a systems analysis approach – science that takes a broad view of issues and their interconnections - is key to solve global problems.
- Nebojsa Nakicenovic is Deputy Director of IIASA. Says Nakicenovic, if we can get away from business-as-usual practices and policies we can find our way to a more equitable and sustainable future.
- Sergey Glaziev is Counselor of the Admninistration of the President of the Russian Federation. He is known for championing social justice and opposing political corruption.
- Nina Fedoroff is a professor at Pennsylvania State University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Federoff will discuss how human population growth is putting pressure on the food supply, the environment, and the climate.
- Gusti Muhammad Hatta is the Minister of Research and Technology in Indonesia. He believes Indonesia should look to science and technology to add value to natural resources in the country.
- Wolfgang Lutz is the head of IIASA’s World Population Program. He notes the importance of people in considering sustainability. His research suggests that the world population will grow to 9 billion by 2050.
- Thomas Schelling is a Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Maryland, where he studies conflict and cooperation in problems such as climate change. Schelling emphasizes that the worst impact of climate change will be on the poor in the poor countries.
- Bjorn Stigson, is the chairman of Stigson & Partners AB, and was until 2011 the president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which he founded. Stigson notes that the business community has a crucial role in the transformation to a sustainable world.
Moderator: Nisha Pillai, former BBC News anchor