Knowledge Society Debates
A series of events exploring science, technology and innovation in India, 5-13 January 2009
In India, as in Europe, visions of a knowledge society have brought science, technology and innovation to the forefront of politics, democracy and public life. As India positions itself in global high-technology markets and European governments attempt to tame their sceptical public knowledge society and knowledge economy have become buzzwords in public policy.
But…
What is a knowledge society?
Whose knowledge counts?
What are the drivers of change?
What are the contending perspectives?
How should a knowledge society address risk and uncertainty?
What are the roles for civic engagement and democratic accountability?
What does all this mean for research, industrial and social policies?
India and Europe present many parallels in how they engage with the knowledge society. Following the work of the National Knowledge Commission in India and the Taking the Knowledge Society Seriously report in Europe, there is much that each can learn from the other. What is common between European
and Indian visions of a knowledge society? Can these form a basis for an alternative vision of the global future to that of a borderless market? Or is the underlying picture one of greater conflict and uncertainty?
These are just some of the questions which were discussed in a series of debates across India in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.
Three lead authors of the European report - Taking Knowledge Society Seriously - discussed their findings with Indian academics, policymakers and activists.
Read more about the Knowledge Society Debates:
- Background to the events
- Report about the Knowledge Society Debates (pdf 61kb)
- The academic debates emerging from the events - Debating Knowledge: new Spaces of Conversation by Esha Shah, Research Fellow, The Institute of Development Studies; member, STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK
- Details of the events (pdf 75kb)
Video: event in New Delhi, India, January 2009
Lead Discussants
Bringing their perspective from the European Commission report, Taking European Knowledge Society Seriously lead discussants were:
- Brian WynneProfessor of Science Studies and Associate Director of the UK ESRC, Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics, CESAGen, Lancaster University
- Andy Stirling Professor and Director of Science at SPRU Science and Technology Policy Research and Co-Director of the ESRC STEPS Centre, University of Sussex
- Sheila JasanoffPforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- Shiv Visvanathan, Professor of Sociology of Science and Technology at DA-IICT, Gandhinagar will be the lead respondent at each debate
A number of academics, civil society members, policy commentators, and activists joined the debate to bring in India specific perspectives.
This series was coordinated by Esha Shah, Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and a member of the STEPS Centre, University of Sussex
Event details
The Knowledge Society Debates took place in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi.
Roundtable discussions
The conference at each location included three sessions:
- Rethinking innovations: Who innovates for whom?
- Democracy or technocracy? Civic engagement in knowledge society
- Knowledge society or risk society? Uncertainty, regulation and precaution
Public Discussion
The roundtables were carried forward to public debates which were addressed by leading speakers. The public discussions in each city focused on different themes.
- Knowledge society and uncertain futures, Hyderabad, 6th Jan, Centre for Economic and Social Studies
- Knowledge futures in the innovation city, Bangalore, 9th Jan, National Institute of Advanced Studies
- Democratising Knowledge futures, New Delhi, 13th Jan, British Council Auditorium (watch video on blip.tv)
Event reports and photos
New Delhi,12th Jan, India Habitat Centre
Bangalore, 8th Jan, National Institute of Advanced Studies
- Report from Banglalore roundtable event (pdf 95 kb)
- Photos from the Bangalore roundtable
- Photos from the Bangalore public discussion
Hyderabad, 5th Jan, Centre for Economic and Social Studies
- Report from Hyderabad roundtable event (pdf 95 kb)
- Photos from Hyderabad roundtable
- Photos from Hyderabad public discussion
Special issue of Seminar
Seminar devoted a special issue to the issues discussed at Knowledge Society Debates, edited by Shiv Visvanathan.
-
THE PROBLEM
Posed by Shiv Visvanathan, social science nomad -
GOVERNING INNOVATION
Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA -
DARING TO IMAGINE
Brian Wynne, Professor of Science Studies and Associate Director, ESRC Centre for Economics and Social Aspects of Genomics, CESAGen, Lancaster University, UK -
RISK, UNCERTAINTY AND POWER
Andy Stirling, Professor and Director of Science at SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Research, and Co-Director of the ESRC STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK -
FROM COMMITMENT TO COMMITTEES
Mariachiara Tallacchini, Professor of Bioethics, State University of Milan, Italy -
THE SEARCH FOR COGNITIVE JUSTICE
Shiv Visvanathan, social science nomad
-
QUESTIONING TEMPERAMENTS IN AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE
Rajeswari S. Raina, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi -
THE FATE OF AGRICULTURE
V. Balaji, researcher in knowledge sharing processes in agricultural sciences, Hyderabad -
KNOWLEDGE AND DEMOCRACY: FABLES FROM SRI
Shambu Prasad, Assistant Professor, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar -
THIN ENCOUNTERS WITH KNOWLEDGE
Chandan Gowda, Associate Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, National Law School of India, Bangalore -
DEBATING KNOWLEDGE: NEW SPACES OF CONVERSATION
Esha Shah, Research Fellow, The Institute of Development Studies; member, STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, UK
Organising committee
Esha Shah, STEPS Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton UK,
E. Haribabu, Department of Philosophy, University of Hyderabad
M. V. Sastry, Centre for World Solidarity, Hyderabad
Shambu Prasad, Knowledge in Civil Society, Hyderabad
Raghvendra Gadagkar, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Ashish Rajyadhyaksha, Centre for Studies in Culture and Society, Bangalore
Rohan Desouza, Centre for Studies in Science and Policy, JNU, New Delhi
Irfan Habib, National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi
Suman Sahai, Gene Campaign, New Delhi
Sponsorship
The Knowledge Society Debates were funded through a grant to the STEPS Centre and the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore from the UK-India Education and Research initiative (UKIERI)
Media coverage
- How inclusive is knowledge? The Hindu, 11 January 2009
- Knowledge Society Debates today Deccan Herald, 9 January 2009
- Knowledge Society debate comes to town. The Times of India. 3 January 2009
- Know can do Time Out Bangalore, 26 December 2009
- Know can do Time Out, Delhi
Next steps: towards a new manifesto
The Knowledge Society Debates have sparked an important intellectual, practical and policy debate, with important implications for both India and Europe. As the previously rather European and North American centric focus for Science and Technology Studies becomes realigned and reinvented for a rapidly globalising world, the contributions from India provide an important new set of perspectives, with issues of poverty, justice and environment centre-stage.
The STEPS Centre is continuing the themes of the Knowledge Society discussions under the umbrella of Innovation, Sustainability, Development: A New Manifesto, with a number of further debates planned in India during 2009 and 2010.
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Knowledge and the news / Robert Churchill / iStockphoto |
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