There are many significant issues facing every one of us. Some of these issues are of such societal and global significance that, unless real solutions are found and real actions are taken - by individuals, by organisations and by governments - the consequences will be, literally, disastrous. These can be described as 'global imperatives'.
Through scientific innovation, new chemistry-based solutions are being constantly developed. The scale and pace of innovation, particularly in the areas of sustainability is breathtaking. But still more needs to be done to speed up innovation, to share chemical technologies, to determine strategies for effective delivery on a global scale - above all, to catalyse action amongst all the key stakeholders.
It is to focus on some of these global imperatives that the ACS and SCI have joined forces to develop a collaborative venture which it is calling Global Innovation Imperatives or Gii.
About Gii
The Gii Mission is:
- To create community and knowledge transfer to stimulate global scientific innovation that meets societal imperatives.
- The focus of our activity will be on specific Global Innovation Imperatives. In particular, both organizations are interested in collaborating in areas where they can stimulate industrial innovation to tackle societal imperatives.
Gii - Water
We are pleased to announce that the first imperative chosen for the Gii programme is water. The decision to focus on water needs little explanation. Drinkable water, for many, is a scare resource. Water in the quantities needed to sustain industry is becoming a challenge. Ensuring a reliable supply of water is a global issue.
Already the Gii programme has considerable commitment from business and leading innovators which will ensure that we quickly start to encourage real action.
Both SCI and ACS recognise the enormous benefit of sharing knowledge and already have significant experience in producing conferences, events, publications and other activities designed to share knowledge and stimulate innovation.
But the Gii goal is to go further still, by focusing for a significant timescale (around three years) on just a small number of carefully chosen globally significant imperatives, with the aim of stimulating real and significant action. This will require engagement from a wide range of stakeholders which will include:
- Innovation leaders
- Business leaders
- Academia and education
- Multinational businesses
- Non-government organizations
- Governments
The size and scale of the imperatives chosen as a focus for Global Innovation Imperatives mean that it is unlikely that the issues tackled will be resolved within the timescales of each programme – this is certainly the case for this first imperative, water. But the aim will be for sufficient momentum to have been created for activity and change to become self-sustaining by those that become involved.
We are very excited about the prospect of creating opportunities that will make a real difference on societal imperatives. We hope that you will want to contribute to these challenges by bringing your expertise and influence. Over the coming months we will be developing activities to support the programme which will include conferences, web-based communities, action-oriented meetings and awards – all on a global scale.
Visit Blog