Basic sciences have been instrumental in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the basic sciences that allowed us to know that the infection is caused by a virus, what the virus looks like, what the genetic sequence and its variations are.
Basic sciences are instrumental in all areas of our lives: even the World Wide Web, which you are using right now, was invented at CERN out of the need for global collaboration on fundamental physics experiments, and it was developed using powerful algorithms.
The International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development is a key moment of mobilization to convince economic and political leaders, as well as every citizen, of the importance of taking into account and mastering basic sciences to ensure a balanced, sustainable and inclusive development of the planet.