20 May 2011, Geneva, Switzerland. UNITAR Executive Director Carlos Lopes and the Director-General of CERN, Rolf Heuer signed a framework cooperation agreement enhancing the long standing collaboration already existing between the two institutions in view of new challenges among which that of providing better connections between the scientific and the international communities.

UNITAR and CERN have a long history of partnership and shared values, including their respective mandate in the area of research. CERN is the scientific partner that enabled the development of UNOSAT into a fully fledged Programme based on substantive support provided by the IT Division of CERN. Starting in 2008 the cooperation between UNITAR/UNOSAT and CERN/IT has been growing steadily with interesting developments in 2011.

These recent developments and the renewed efforts by the new Director General of CERN to expand the profile of CERN within the world of international organisations, beginning with those hosted in Geneva, led to the decision to enhance and upgrade the level of cooperation developed by the two institutions. Dr. Heuer is also positive that science and society have to be better aware of one another and that fundamental research, theory and practical results are inextricably linked. In a recent interview to The European magazine, the Director-General of the largest scientific laboratory in the word declared “... our work has very practical consequences. When antimatter was introduced into the theoretical framework 83 years ago, nobody thought that this had any practical relevance. Yet today, the concept is used in hospitals around the world on a daily basis. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is based on the positron, which is the anti-particle to the electron. Or take the internet. The idea of a worldwide network started in 1989 here at CERN, because we needed that kind of digital network for our scientific work. That’s the beauty of our research: We gain knowledge but we also gain the potential for technological innovation.”

Advancing technology, harnessing research and generating bodies of knowledge are also some of the leading principles motivating the work of UNITAR. Building on these common basis, UNITAR and CERN will endeavour to expand their current cooperation, centred on computing technology, to include additional and innovative actions ranging from training to the organisation of joint events providing a venue to discuss and foster the connection between science and society with particular focus on current megatrends and international global agendas.

Photo: Rolf Heuer (left) and Carlos Lopes at the signing ceremony at CERN (courtesy of CERN)