The COVID-19 pandemic, which is going on for over two years now, has costed too many lives, and disrupted even more.
Without the results produced for decades, and even centuries, by basic, curiosity-driven scientific research, however, the global situation would have been much worse.
Without basic sciences, how would we know that infection is caused by a virus, what does that virus look like, what are its genetic sequence and variations? In short, everything that helps us fight the pandemic and its consequences – are all rooted in basic sciences.
Even the World Wide Web, that you are using right now to read this, was invented at CERN from the need for global collaboration for experiments in fundamental physics and it has been developed thanks to powerful algorithms.
The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022 will be a key moment of mobilization to convince economic and political leaders, as well as every citizen, of our dependence on basic science to ensure a balanced, sustainable, and inclusive development of the planet.
The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022 Steering Committee promotes open channels for scientific cooperation at large across all political and other divides, in the hope and expectation that enhanced scientific collaborations is an important way to develop improved understandings between different peoples thus contributing to world peace.