KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Stream 1 ‘Medicine and Healthcare’:
Professor Bartha Maria Knoppers, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
“Population Biobanks: International Collaboration and Access”
ABSTRACT: The inception of the Human Genome Project in the 1990s brought
with it a decade of eclectic and sometimes reactionary policymaking.
Examining the strengths and weaknesses of the medical, human rights and
public health models as applied in this first decade, we will contrast this
with trends dating from the year 2000 onwards. In particular, certain
distinct, dynamic features of this latter period such as communalism,
citizenry and convergence will serve as a contrast. Using biobanking as a focal point throughout, we will attempt to demonstrate the differences between static and complex approaches to policymaking.
Stream 2 ‘Information and Communication Technology’:
Professor Jon Bing, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
“The computerisation of legal decisions”
ABSTRACT: Legal decisions have been computerised for many years. Based on
statutes and regulations, the decisions are represented as programs rather than
natural language texts. This intervention discusses some aspects of legal policy
related to this development. A concrete example is given as a background, then
some issues are pursued. This include the problem of program and data quality.
The latter exemplified by time-related data, by consistency and by the move from
vague criteria (including legal expert judgements) to strict criteria. There is
suggested to be three generations of system architecture for public
administration -- and some policy aspects of the more recent model, the
self-service public administration, will briefly be indicated.
Stream 3 ‘Intellectual Property’:
Mr Antony Taubman, World Intellectual Property Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
(new director of the WTO IP Division)
“Centripetal and Centrifugal Trends in International Governance of IP”