What should be taught in an age of infoglut and universal access?
The 7th Global Baku Forum (7GBF) is coming at a particularly critical moment and a difficult crossroads in governance of the globe. Multilateralism is in retreat. The authority of international institutions is in decline. Big Power politics is regaining legitimacy. Democracies are struggling with profound existential questions. Cherished foundational values are being challenges. Xenophobia and intolerance are threatening open borders and the status of religious and ethnic minorities. The authority of Science and integrity of the media are under siege. New technologies are emerging faster than society and culture can adapt. Keynote speakers will include Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and addresses by current and former heads of state, foreign ministers, international diplomats and thinkers, including Ashraf Ghani (Afghanistan), Kerry Kennedy (USA), Fareed Zakaria (USA), Jeffrey Sachs (USA), Helen Clark (New Zealand), Vaira Vike-Freiberga (Latvia), Aleksander Kwasniewski (Poland), Tarja Halonen (Finland), Ilir Meta (Albania) and Wu Hailong (China).
On March 17th a special event will be organized for WAAS Fellows, special invitees and select 7GBF participants to discuss in open roundtable format the future of global leadership in the 21st century. Global leadership appears to be virtually absent at this critical juncture in human affairs when it is most needed to prevent the loss or reversal of the most important gains since the End of the Cold War. This meeting will seek ways to revive and develop different types of leadership at the global level. It will explore strategies designed to generate awareness of unutilized global potentials, mobilize and direct global social energies and resources for practical application, strengthen the effectiveness and functioning of existing institutions of governance, and release a broad-based social movement to transform the compelling challenges confronting humanity today into catalysts for rapid global social evolution.
The format of the special event will be a moderated open roundtable for discussion of critical issues and constructive approaches for change. All invitees will have opportunities to contribute. Specific assignments are available for those interested in being session moderators or making presenting brief discussion papers to stimulate group discussion.
Our world today is amazingly interconnected and full of new normalities which bring a profound level of complexity and uncertainty into all aspect of our lives. The global character of information, economy, governance and ecology present tremendous challenges. The increasing speed of information growth and technological breakthroughs, particularly the disruptive innovations of Industrial Revolution 4.0, are widening the gap between education and employment. Today's youth need to acquire "evolutionary competence" based on knowledge and skills for jobs that do not even exist today. A new type of education—a new paradigm—is urgently needed to address the challenges and paradoxes of the coming age, capitalize on the emerging potentials, and transform possible threats into opportunities. WAAS and WUC are working in partnership with universities and other organizations around the world with this objective.
On March 21-22, 2019 the World Academy and the Club of Rome are convening a meeting of concerned and committed individuals and organizations to share insights and explore pathways to a new civilization initiative that recognizes the systemic interconnectedness of people, nations, sectors, activities, challenges, forces and consequences presiding over global development and seeks solutions and processes that transcend the limitations of the current paradigm and giving shape to pathways toward a better future for humanity.
In June 2013, the World Academy of Art & Science collaborated with the United Nations in Geneva to organize an international conference on New Human- Centered Development Paradigm bringing together 200 diplomats, scientists and thought leaders to call for the formulation of a new pathway for human development in the 21st century that would question, challenge and supersede the limitations and contradictions inherent in the prevailing thinking, theories, policies and practices guiding the development of global society.
Academy of Cultural Diplomacy and others to drawn insights from paradigm changes of the past and explore the feasibility of a conscious, comprehensive, integrated approach to forging a sustainable future for all.
In October 2018, members of the Club of Rome meeting in Rome and the Club's Executive Committee embraced a proposal for a new civilization initiative that recognizes the systemic interconnectedness of people, nations, sectors, activities, challenges, forces and consequences presiding over global development and seeks solutions and processes that transcend the limitations of the current paradigm.