Carl-Goran Hedén:

PREPARATIONS FOR BIOPOLICY SEMINAR 2005.

When the Biofocus Foundation (BF), in the year 2000, initiated the Biopolicy Seminars as an annual joint effort by the Engineering Sciences Division of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (KVA), and the Biotechnology Division of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Scences (IVA), it was understood that the endeavour would be evaluated after about half a decade. This gives special significance to the 6th seminar which, in a sense, ought to summarize the experience gained so far with regard to stimulating creative thinking about significant longterm policy issues. The review envisaged could be expected to take the following points into account:

-                    The establihment of three policy committees ("Thematic Groups") for Energy, Health and Science Policy by KVA.

-                    The choice of topics for other open conferences organized by IVA`s Biopolicy Division.

-                    The move of Biofocus Foundation`s Headquarters to Dublin, which has only left a small project dismantling office in Stockholm (to be closed Oct.1st, when C.-G.Heden retires for reasons of age).

The organizing committee for the seminars started its preparations for the 2005 seminar at a meeting on October 26th 2004 when Heden reported on his September 14th talks in Tokio about a possible joint swedish-japanese videolinked conference session on Sept.22nd 2005. This would be held between the Nordic Pavillion at the World Exhibition in Aichi and IVA. As an illustration of BF:s long-term focus Heden gave a lecture at the 10th Anniversary of ZERI (Enclosure A) and discussed possible forms of cooperation with the founder of that body (Gunter Pauli). He also outlined the essence of a possible long-term cooperation project (Enclosure B) that was focused on an environmental issue, for which the time has come(! ! ! ). It was mentioned at a meeting on January 14th 2005 of the organizing committee which however felt that it would detract from the two main themes and consequently ought to be referred to other bodies. This took place at a subgroup meeting ("Baltic Technical Cooperation for South East Asia") of a conference inspired by the tsunami catastrophy ("What can we do") on Febr.4th 2005 at the Royal Institute on Technology. The Amphibian Housing/Human Ecology theme would also be brought up at a meeting of the at a Baltic Development Forum in Malmoe on Febr.24-25 2005.