Wissen teilen – Per una scienza partecipata
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, politicians and public opinion have paid increasing attention to the views of virologists and epidemiologists. Science has been at the very heart of society as never before, and never before has it been able to influence political decisions so effectively. This presents a great opportunity, but one that also carries risks.
The past year has shown that effective communication among the experts involved depends on their willingness and ability to engage in open discourse with one another and then agree on common ground. Where coordination was lacking, the public dissemination of knowledge has revealed shortcomings.
There is also another question that has caused confusion and irritation amongst the general public: why and when do researchers, as has often been the case, revise their views? The fact that supposedly established specialist knowledge has to be continually refined or adapted in the light of new findings is not something that is automatically part of our common understanding of how knowledge is formed.
Launched by MERCURIO, the German-Italian Business Association, and developed in collaboration with Villa Vigoni and the Forum Accademico Italiano, the new ‘Wissen teilen’ (engl. Sharing Knowledge) initiative has set itself two initial objectives: firstly, to foster in-depth discussion of the latest scientific and economic topics, and secondly, to examine the creation, use and dissemination of knowledge, primarily from a German-Italian perspective. The guiding principle here is the democratic model of scientific citizenship, whose central concerns are further rapprochement and continuous exchange between the scientific community and civil society.
“Wissen teilen” introduces a new series of digital formats that gives a voice to representatives from industry, science and culture in Italy and Germany. This initiative forms part of Villa Vigoni’s annual focus, “What holds Europe together: knowledge of Europe”, and the “Il FAI nella Rete” project of the Forum Accademico Italiano.
