August 31, 2012 CAETS Council Meeting, Zurich

COUNCIL MEETING

0900 - 1550 Friday August 31, 2012

Rooms Montreux and Lausanne, 1st floor, Swissôtel, Zurich

Summary Minutes

Draft September 25, 2012

OPEN SESSION

1.         The President welcomed all and asked that each person indentify themselves in response to his call by alphabetical list of member academies. 

2.         The proposed agenda was approved. 

3.         The Summary Minutes of the Council Meeting of July 1, 2011 were approved.   

4.         The draft summary minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of August 29, 2012 were available. The Secretary noted that the Board: received the Report of the Audit Committee; approved the proposed 2013 Budget; reviewed the status of member academies paying at the $1,000 dues level; and approved use of the Reserve Funds of approximately $8,000 to update the current “30” brochure and print 3,000 copies of “CAETS, First 35 Years 1978-2013” to be available for the 2013 CAETS meetings. 

5a.   The Council elected the following to the 2013 CAETS Board of Directors: 

President-elect             ZHOU Ji                                  CAE, China

Member                       Dongwha Kum                        NAEK, Korea 

Member                       Goran Granic                           HATZ, Croatia

                        Member                       Frank Behrendt                        acatech, Germany

                        Member                       Bob Pullen                               SAAE, South Africa

5b.      As recommended by the Board, the Council approved continuation of the current dues structure for FY2014. [The current dues structure is:$1,000: ANI, Argentina; BACAS, Belgium; HATZ, Croatia; EA CR, Czech Republic;  MMA, Hungary; AcTI.nl, Netherlands;  IAS, Slovenia; SAAE, South Africa; ANIU, Uruguay. $3,000: CAE, Canada; ATV, Denmark; TAF, Finland; NATF, France; acatech, Germany; NAEK, Korea; AI, Mexico; NTVA, Norway; RAI, Spain; IVA, Sweden; SATW, Switzerland. $6,000: ATSE, Australia; CAE, China; INAE, India; EAJ, Japan; RAEng, United Kingdom; NAE, United States.

[For the record, from the Council meeting of July 14, 2005, “…and noting that certain reservations had been expressed after the dues structure had been agreed. The reservations included: those academies paying the lowest level of dues should do so on a well justified basis and endeavor to strengthen their financial base and increase their dues payment to the middle level in the near term; decisions by the Board on these matters should be transparent and without the potential for conflict-of-interest.]

5c.       Future CAETS Meetings

2013 HAE       The President-elect introduced the plans for the CAETS 2013 meetings to be held in Budapest at the Hotel Gellert during Wednesday – Friday, June 26 – 28. A slightly revised title for the June 27 Symposium, “Innovative Approaches to Engineering Education” was agreed by the Council. A written invitation from HAE to all member academies was distributed. The morning session will focus on innovations in engineering education and the afternoon session on the future challenges brought by “digital natives and digital immigrants” and brain-science potential impact on education. A preliminary list of possible speakers prepared by the President-elect, reviewed by the HAE Symposium Organizing Committee, and then discussed with the CAETS Executive Committee and Board of Directors at their meetings on Wednesday, August 29, was discussed. Brief mention was made of plans for a tour on Saturday, June 29, and tours for accompanying persons.

2014 CAE (China)      The CAE Representative, PAN Yunhe, presented his academy’s proposal for the CAETS meeting in 2014. With the theme, “Engineering and the Future of Mankind,” CAE plans a two-day Convocation during Tuesday and Wednesday, June 3-4, in Beijing, with Monday, June 2, devoted to Executive Committee and Board of Directors Meetings and Thursday, June 5, devoted to the Council meeting.  The first day of the Convocation would be devoted to plenary sessions and the second day would involve parallel sessions. CAE expects many of its members would attend the Convocation. The Council agreed to the theme and the two-day Convocation.

6. Mike Manton, Chair of the Committee on International Activities, presented the report on CAETS international activities.   The Council supported the CIO recommendations that the Council:

•          notes the actions of the CIO in attempting to link CAETS with broader international programs, and thanks member academies that have contributed to those actions;

•          requests member academies to identify experts to further explore the scope for collaboration between ICSU and CAETS on the Future Earth program and related activities;

•          should take advantage of the participation of the ICSU representative, Rik Leemans, at the August Council meeting;

•          should continue the CAETS dialogue with WMO on support for the Global Framework for Climate Services and its components; and

•          should continue the cooperation with the IAC(InterAcademy Council) on activities of common  interest, such as: water resources for health, energy and food; international food security; and quiet ocean research(effects on marine life).

7. Tor Kihlman, Chair of the CAETS Noise Control Technology Committee, presented the Committee’s report. The Council supported the Committee’s conclusions, which, in part, asked for:

•          Continuous support from CAETS is essential for the NCTC to be effective.

•          Considering the volume of work and long lead times, an increase in the number of involved and actively-participating academicians is needed

•          The Council is asked for support on this issue and identification of additional national academies which could contribute interested members to this committee.

8. Mike Manton led the Council discussion on “Recent Efforts and Experiences Promoting Engineering-based Innovation.” Several aspects of innovation were mentioned reflecting the different views held by member academies as to the focus within their own country of “promoting innovation.”   ATSE expressed interest in efforts to measure the impact of innovation. INAE mentioned the several efforts that have been undertaken in India and briefly reviewed the objectives of its International Conference “Toward a Better Innovation Ecosystem” to be held September 20-12, 2012 in New Delhi. CAE reviewed its Intelligent Cities Development project, “iCities,” which focuses on the integration of twelve major aspects in the construction of an intelligent city. Additional comments reflected experiences reported in the resource papers contributed by EA CR and NAE (US) and experiences in other member countries, all making for an interesting discussion of this important topic.

9. Prof. dr. H. B. J. (Rik) Leemans presented the ICSU international research initiative “Future Earth.” We will look for opportunities for CAETS and ICSU to cooperate on mutually agreeable basis as this research initiative progresses, such as arranging for appropriate CAETS representation from a local member academy at the regional workshops of Future Earth.

10. The draft Statement reflecting the presentations and discussions of the August 30, 2012 Symposium on “Urban Development and Public Transportation:  Improved Understanding of the Interdependencies” was reviewed. Proposed changes in the text were discussed and any changes agreed. The approved text, subject to professional editing, will be posted on the CAETS web site in the near future and printed in a four-page brochure as has been done in recent years. Member academies will receive copies of the brochure and are welcomed to report at the June 2013 Council meeting their distribution of the Statement.

11. The CAETS Working Group on Low Carbon Energy Technologies report, presented by Vaughan Beck, ATSE, outlined its draft report on “Deployment Low Carbon Energy Technologies for Electric Power Generation – Initiatives and Risks.” This report is scheduled to be completed about March 2013. At its request the Council agreed to formally establish this Working Group. Its meetings could be held in conjunction with CAETS meetings. 

12. Achiel Van Cauwenberghe led the Council discussion on “Promoting Discussion with the Public on Engineering, Science, and Technology.”   Beginning with the results of an EC survey of public views on engineering and science outlined in the BACAS paper, the discussion then included comments reflecting the material in the US paper, the EAJ paper, the INAE paper, the NAEK paper, and the ATSE paper. Comments from RAEng, NAE(US), and others resulted in an interesting discussion of this important topic.

13, 14   “Issues of Concern” and “Activities of Interest” are posted on the CAETS web site. Contributions from all member academies are strongly encouraged. Those contributions, including revisions, will be included in the material on the web.

15. New business:   ATSE is about to commence two major projects: “Infrastructure Planning;” and “Unconventional Gas,” and would be most grateful to receive details on these two topics – such as published reports, either by an academy or by national organizations in their country, or any work that is currently underway or is about to be commenced.

16. Certificates of Appreciation were presented by President René Dändliker to Achiel van Cauwenberghe for his two-year service on the CAETS Board of Directors and Mike Manton for his two-year service on the CAETS Board of Directors.   

17. The meeting was adjourned at 15:50.

 Attachments:   List of Attendees;

Several supporting Documents;

Issues of Concern and Activities of Interest.