It changed the way we live, communicate, face problems. Science had to act quickly to deal with the pandemic, which now determines our daily lives. The planet is undergoing accelerated changes and humanity’s call is to be alert and act with evidence-based decisions in these situations. For this reason, the new version of Congreso Futuro (CF) will put on the table the necessary discussions to coexist in this new habitat.
The next version of the largest outreach event in Latin America already has a date. Between January 17 and 21, the lights of CF will be turned on, under the slogan “Learning to Live Together”. There will be present four Nobel Prize winners and around 80 of the most important personalities of science, humanities and art.
The eleventh edition, organized by the Senate of Chile -through the Future Challenges Commission- and the Encuentros del Futuro Foundation (FEF), will present a range of exhibitors who will make available the best of their experience to expand the frontiers of citizen knowledge and dialogue about the changes that the planet and its societies will have.
Challenges
The president of the Senate’s Future Challenges Commission, Guido Girardi, said that in the eleventh version of the Future Congress “we will talk about Learning to Live Together, how to face the challenges, how we have to change our way of relating to nature and the rest of living beings, how to change our development models to live together differently, even with artificial intelligence. All these great intellectual challenges can be seen in congresofuturo.cl.”
About the event are varied the innovations that are contemplated for this year, both in its content, as an editorial line, alliances, and also in its execution. The executive director of FEF, Nicolás Fernández, explained the progress of the next version.
“Like last year, Congreso Futuro will bet on a comprehensive platform that adapts to today’s health possibilities.” The activity includes almost a thousand square meters of a stage in 360 degrees, and one hundred and ninety square meters of high definition LED screens, which will allow a connection and interaction between exhibitors and the public that will be connected to the event.
CF 2022 Exhibitors
The more than 80 exhibitors that will be presented at Congreso Futuro come from more than 20 countries and will represent various disciplines and perspectives of knowledge, science, humanities, art and innovation. Following the logic of this version, the guests will represent the great changes that the world has undergone, and how we must re-think the future to Learn to Live Together.
On the main stage of Congreso Futuro will parade great personalities such as the winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics, Esther Duflo, who was recognized for her studies on inequality within developing countries, and who currently serves as director of the Department of Economics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Also present will be outstanding researchers whose mission will be to problematize about the next challenges of Artificial Intelligence. Among them stands out the specialist in technologies, Nicolás Mialhe, co-founder of “The Future Society”, and member of several international institutions dedicated to the ethical development of Artificial Intelligence, as well as social welfare based on the application of this technology. Joining him will be Timnit Gebru, a computer scientist and leader in research on ethics and algorithmic biases in AI. One of its strengths is to highlight the presence of racism and sexism on digital platforms.
On the other hand, to talk about pandemic and how to detect infectious foci, the participation of the outstanding Dr. Anthony Fauci is contemplated; director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and health adviser to the White House; Tedros Adhanom, director general of the World Health Organization, and Gonzalo Moratorio, Uruguayan virologist who created one of the first tests to detect the presence of COVID-19 in the body. His work was recognized as one of the “10 of Nature”, carried out by the prestigious scientific journal.
Ko Barret, climate policy expert and vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), together with marine biologist and one of the world’s leading specialists in maritime resource studies, Daniel Pauly, coThey will share their vision on the new discoveries around the climate crisis, as well as the complex scenario facing marine biodiversity.
In other subjects, academics such as Teresa Paneque, astronomer and scientific popularizer; Patricia Muñoz, Ombudsman for Children, and the current president of the Constitutional Convention, Elisa Loncon.
The head of programming of Congreso Futuro, Carlos Vásquez, pointed out that “this year’s program is aimed at rethinking the ways in which we live, not only between human beings, but between species and with the environment. We want to give a much bigger focus to the idea of reality that we are building together.”
Additionally, for the first time virtual rooms will be implemented where attendees and exhibitors will have the opportunity to dialogue and deepen on specific issues, which often have no place during the talks. Thus, attendees of Congreso Futuro will have a private space to interact with them and discuss doubts they have about the topic just presented.
Milestones and news for this edition
Faced with a new scenario, the organizers of Congreso Futuro closed a series of milestones and alliances to extend their logic in public and private projects.
“That is why we seek to address issues that allow us to rethink and project ourselves on how to act and co-create a future in a context of vertiginous changes,” said Daniel Fernández, president of the board of directors of Fundación Encuentros del Futuro.
Regarding health care, Congreso Futuro will innovate this year to maintain control and possible outbreak in its collaborators and exhibitors of the event. Through “ScanVox”, a project developed by Merlin Research, technological partner of the activity, telephone calls will be coordinated where a virtual assistant will analyze with Artificial Intelligence the tone of voice, among other parameters, to detect the probability that the person may be facing a contagion by COVID-19. The system has an accuracy of between 80% and 90% and will be applied to the attendees and collaborators of this new version of CF.
For the first time, the programmatic development of Congreso Futuro was carried out under the gender advisory, carried out by Fundación Hay Mujeres. Thanks to this, the event will have themes, panels and guidelines reviewed and approved by this institution, which guarantees that Congreso Futuro is developed under standards that ensure a space of equity, and help to make visible the challenges that still exist in the world of science, humanities and knowledge in general.
In addition, during this first year the Hay Mujeres Foundation advised the editorial line of the series that will premiere during this version of Congreso Futuro: “Frontera”. This program presents themes that invite us to reflect on the challenges that the society of the future will have to face.
On the other hand, it will also be presented during this new version of CF “Symbiosis”. This initiative is an incursion where science, technology and knowledge speak through art, and in this case through the poetry of Elicura Chihuailaf. Everything will be transmitted through the official platforms of Congreso Futuro, without prior registration.
In general, the importance of Congreso Futuro, and its contribution to the local and global community, has allowed it to generate alliances to expand its work and participate in projects promoted by public and private institutions. Hence the collaboration agreement with the Chilean Agency for International Development Cooperation (AGCID) of the Ministry of RR.EE.; in addition to projects with the Chilean Chamber of Construction (CChC) and the Illustrious Municipality of Renca.
Future Regions Congress
As usual, Congreso Futuro will carry out parallel activities in regions to decentralize science and knowledge. In this eleventh version it will be present in 10 regions, from Antofagasta to Magallanes.
Carolina Goic, senator member of the Challenges of the Future Commission and representative of the Magallanes region, said that “the regions are not alien to this festival of science. We left on January 17 from Magallanes, in Punta Arenas, with two great exponents: Oscar Bottasso and Sharon Robinson. Congreso Futuro wants to look at the world, the global challenges from the regions, to learn to live together”.
For Senator Francisco Chahuán, member of the Future Challenges Commission and representative of the Valparaíso region, Francisco Chahuán, “decentralizing access to innovation, science, technology and knowledge is fundamental and that has been the role of the Future Congress for these 11 years of continuous work.”
Senator Alfonso De Urresti, member of the Challenges of the Future commission and representative of the Los Ríos region, expressed his joyía for the realization of Future Congress 2022 in the area, scheduled for January 21. “We will have two important exhibitors in the international arena who will talk about the environment, resilience and the need to protect our oceans and ecosystems. This is important because it opens a debate, national and international, bringing the best of science and research to our territory, in conversation with academics, students and the general public,” he said.
Likewise, Juan Antonio Coloma, senator for the Maule Region and part of the Challenges of the Future Commission, said that all times have different challenges.
“We had this world, perhaps one of the most exciting, most difficult things, but more important is to learn to live together, to be part of the same planet, to solve together problems that come our way and that we have not always faced. I think it is very important that this Future Congress be held in regions, since it helps a lot to better understand that unity of the country that we need so much,” said the parliamentarian.
Digital as a tool for change
On the final day of this version of Congreso Futuro will be held “Digitized: Hacking the binary”. This event, co-organized by Congreso Futuro together with Nuestra Voz, BHP Foundation, and sponsored by the Ministry of Science, will be a space that will seek to contribute to public discussion and convene wills to encourage the active participation of both women and various groups through digital.
Fernanda Undurraga, director of International Relations of FEF and coordinator of “Digitalizadas” pointed out that “gender equity, based on effective representativeness and the visibility of particular needs of different groups, has always been a priority for Congreso Futuro. That is why we decided, in addition to formalizing an alliance with Fundación Hay Mujeres to work on a correct incorporation of the gender perspective in all our work, to carry out a day dedicated to this matter”.
This day will bring together specialists who will discuss together the participation of women in different spaces, with a special focus on the way in which technology has served as a tool to enhance their voice at all scales.
“Scientific-technological development has the power to transform our reality and deliver solutions to complex problems, but it can also cause harm to the population. Reflecting on how we do science, who and for what purposes, is so essential, especially at a time when we must ensure that technological progress should not leave anyone behind,” added the Undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Carolina Torrealba.
According to what has been said by the government authority, this fifth day of the Future Congress recognizes the role of women in science, technology and innovation and becomes a space for reflection on development from a feminist perspective. “It will be a privilege to listen to the vision and experience of women specialists in those issues in which the world is transforming and a powerful signal to the whole society that these matters also have female authorship,” she added.
“Digitized”, according to its organizers, invites us to reflect and question the binary thinking that classifies people arbitrarily, assigning them roles and characteristics that often do not match their identities, abilities and interests. It will do so through a space in which a neuroscientific discussion of gender will be engaged and in which various economic, social and political initiatives that use technology to enhance gender equality will be announced, as well as testimonies on the experience of digital appropriation and other topics.
