Conference of Montreal to host international meeting of chief scientists

The annual Conference of Montreal (CoM) will host a special one-day meeting of science ministers from around the globe that could become an annual event. The meeting — one of the first of its kind — is being organized by Quebec chief scientist Dr Rémi Quirion to exchange perspectives on the role of the chief scientist in helping to craft effective science and innovation policy. The conference will be held June 9-12.

"This will be a unique opportunithy to discuss, compare and challenge strategic approaches used by different countries and networks to establish high-level scientific priorities aimed at improving the socio-economic well being of their citizens" — Dr Rémi Quirion, Quebec chief scientist

"It's a bit of an experiment —an information session where we want to learn from one another and maybe hold an annual meeting," says Quirion. "We'll be discussing the role of science advisors."

The theme for this year's CoM is The Foundation For The Next Era of Growth and will be attended by hundreds of high-level delegates for discussions on major economic and innovation issues. Attendees will include heads of state, economists, politicians, bankers and senior executives from technology firms, non-governmental organizations, think tanks and media

Gil Rémillard, a former Justice minister in the Quebec government, is the founding chairman of the Montreal-based International Economic Forum of the Americas which holds three annual events — Conference of Montreal in June, Toronto's Global Forum in October and the Palm Beach Strategic Forum in April.

The June 10th event was originally scheduled for 2012 but was postponed. Quirion says Canadian science policy experts and practitioners such as Dr Gordon McBean and Paul Dufour will be attending. Other possible attendees include the heads of the granting councils.

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