Last week Dr Aalt A. Dijkhuizen, Chair of the Wageningen UR Executive Board (Wageningen University & Research centre), was appointed a member of the International Advisory Board of the World Knowledge Forum. The appointment was announced at the end of the 11th conference of the Forum in Seoul, South Korea. The mission and aims of the World Knowledge Forum are similar to those of the World Economic Forum in Davos, but with specific emphasis on the role of and developments in knowledge and innovation.
More than 1,300 people from over 150 countries participated in the Seoul conference. The keynote speakers came from governments, the business community and knowledge institutes, and included Tony Blair, former prime-minister of the UK, Yukio Hatoyama, former prime-minister of Japan, Richard Branson, founder and owner of Virgin Air, Chris Hughes, co-founder and owner of Facebook, Donald Trump Jr, Executive Vice-President of the Trump Organization, and Paul Krugman and Oliver Williamson, winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The guests included the presidents of several large and prestigious universities and knowledge institutes in California (Berkeley), New York, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo. This year’s theme was 'One Asia Momentum'. The organisers mooted the theory that the US has been hard hit by the financial crisis and that Europe is not sufficiently united to assume the role of world leader. Asia, on the other hand, has been gathering momentum during this 'power vacuum' and is pulling the global economy (see also www.wkforum.org).
This year the world food situation was on the agenda for the first time. This is why Dijkhuizen was invited to deliver an introductory lecture. The Dutch food and agrimodel (intensive and highly productive) is regarded worldwide as the model par excellence of how to meet the doubled demand for food in the future, both in terms of economics and the effects on climate and the environment. Wageningen UR is seen as a pioneer in this field with an international leading role.
The International Advisory Board of the World Knowledge Forum selects the conference themes and advises on speakers. By appointing Dijkhuizen to the Board, the Forum has confirmed that the world food situation merits a permanent place on the agenda.