crop protection association - managing risk, not avoiding it
TRANSCRIPT
Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Sir Mark WalportChief Scientific Adviser to HM Government
2 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Wellbeing, health, security & resilience
• Knowledge translated to economic advantage
• The right science for emergencies
• Underpinning policy with evidence
• Advocacy and leadership for science
Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser
Credit: iStockphoto
3 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
GCSA Themed Annual Report
• Topic of report all pervasive in work as GCSA.
• Growth driven by science and innovation.
• Innovation to deal with global challenges (ageing populations, scarce resources, infectious diseases, carbon emissions).
• Innovation held back by poorly framed discussions about risk
• If governance of risk goes wrong, miss out on major potential benefits, or suffer needlessly.
4 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Where does risk come in?
Natural events
Credit: US Agricultural Research Service
Credit:Jeff Pettis/CC BY 3.0
Credit: iStockphoto
Credit: Maccheek/PD
5 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Where does risk come in?
Human
Credit: AP Credit: Robert Campbell/CC BY-SA 3.0
6 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Hazard
• Exposure
• Vulnerability
• Risk
• Uncertainty
• Threat
Using common principles about language to raise the level of conversations
Credit: Warren Photographic
7 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Innovation has got us where we are
• Widespread electrification
• Improvements in healthcare
• Mass production systems
• Better transport linksCredit: A_Werdan/PD
Credit: Foodcollection RF
8 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
A growing global population requires innovation
The challenges we face include:
•Climate change
•Water security
•Food and agricultureCredit: Lindsey Bengtson/PD
Credit: stockphotoCredit: יגאל שרגיאן /CC BY 2.5
9 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
1) High level of acceptance but who pays?
Credit: Sponge/CC BY-SA 3.0 Credit: Fluzone
10 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
2) Science meets values
Teosinte Zea mays
Credit: Daniel Goehring/CC-BY-2.0
11 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
3) My risk, your benefit
Credit: Sunil060902/CC-BY-SA-3.0
Credit: istockphoto
Credit: US Dept of Energy/PD
12 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
4) Unintended consequences
Credit: Dalbera/CC BY 2.0 Credit: istockphoto
13 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of Innovation and Risks
5) New challenges
Credit: Walterdenkens/CC BY-SA 3.0Credit: US Air Force/CC BY-NC 2.0
14 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Holding a Wider Conversation about Risk
• Risk – a societal issue
• Language
• Values and lenses
• Who benefits and who carries the risk
• Transparency
• Widening the conversation is a democratic necessity
Credit: Focus Features
15 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
What can science contribute?
16 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
What can science contribute?
Credit: himajin/PD
17 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Vector Control is 60% of the . Global Malaria Prevention Budget
Only 4 classes of insecticide are approved for mainstream vector control
Recent scale up of vector control has reduced malaria by >50% in many countries.
Insecticides in disease control
Credit: IVCC
18 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Insecticide Resistance is Growing
A decade ago pyrethroid resistance was almost unknown in Africa. Scaling up insecticide-based prevention has saved millions of lives but resistance is now increasing and new insecticides are needed.
19 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
GMOs
•What organism?
•What gene?
•What purpose?
•The specific application – not the generic technology
Risk Discussions Require Specificity
Credit: IRRI/CC BY 2.0
Credit: Rosalee Yagihara/CC BY 2.0 Credit: Sarah Usher/Rothamsted Research
20 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
The policy challenge: Viewing difficult issues through varied lenses
Parkhill et al, Transforming the Energy System – Public Values, Attitudes and Acceptability, 2013 (UKERC)
Credit: Thomas Shahan/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0
21 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Investment: Aligning national priorities for investment on resilience, infrastructure and innovation with an evidence and risk-based approach;
• UK coordination: Ensuring a more coherent and structured approach to assessing impact of risk in policy, regulation and crisis management;
• Regulators: Putting in place the right governance structures and incentives in relation to our regulators and regulated industries;
• Science-based EU: Rooting the approach to policy and decision-making in EU in robust scientific evidence.
Call to Action
STOP CONFUSING SCIENCE AND VALUES
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the included attributions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future versions of this slide set. We can be contacted through [email protected].
@uksciencechief
www.gov.uk/go-science