Speaking points
Dr. Mona Nemer
Chief Science Advisor of Canada
The 17th Science and Technology Ministers’ Roundtable
“Science, Technology and Innovation to address huge threats to humanity”
October 3, 2020
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Konichiwa! It is an honour for me to join this group again this year. Thank you Minister Inoue for hosting the roundtable in these challenging times.
There is no doubt that the major threats facing humanity today are interconnected. Our science, technology and innovation (ST&I) response therefore needs to be holistic, multidisciplinary and integrated.
I wish to focus my remarks on open science.
Open science increases trust in science and in science-informed government policies. This is more important than ever before. Little progress can be made without trust because our ability to combat these global challenges requires the buy-in from society at large.
At the beginning of this year, I announced the Canadian Roadmap for Open Science to make federally funded research outputs openly accessible.
Canada has been a strong supporter of open science in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020, Canadian funders signed a joint statement to openly share COVID-19 research data and findings.
In mid-March, Canada was part of the group of science advisors who called on publishers to make all COVID-19 related research and data publicly available. The response from the publishing community was astounding.
In closing, it is my hope that the evident benefits of sharing COVID-19 research and data will encourage us all to work together towards broader objectives for open science to better address global challenges.
Thank you. Arigato Gozaimashita.