LINDAU, Germany - Up-and-coming scientists from 69 countries started their meetings on Monday with 27 Nobel Prize laureates on the shores of Lake Constance in the southern German city of Lindau, to debate the future of science and inspire scientific research. Former physics Nobel Prize winners are to meet until Friday with the young researchers, including two Egyptians, to exchange knowledge, ideas and experience. Welcoming a group of young researchers and journalists, Prof. Dr Margret Wintermantel, President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), said exchange does not merely imply the exchange between different scientific disciplines, countries, researchers or viewpoints. "Science and innovation are areas which society as a whole must support, for they have an impact on all of our lives," she stressed. Germany has decided to gradually phase out nuclear energy by 2022 and intends to increasingly draw on renewable energy sources to meet its energy needs, she explained. "But there are still many unresolved questions for example, how to store the energy and expand the power grid. Will we, as a nation, be able to completely convert to renewable energies? Will we have to fall back on fossil or nuclear-based energy from abroad? To find answers to all of these questions, we need science and scientists. "I am also pleased that we, supported by our DAAD branch office in Cairo, have enabled young Egyptian researchers to participate at the meeting in Lindau this year," Dr Wintermantel concluded. In her speech marking the official opening of the event on Sunday, Countess Bettina Bernadotte, President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, urged the participants to experience what she called “the spirit of Lindau", “a shared enthusiasm for science and a shared desire to address challenges facing the world". "While staying true to their roots, the dynamics of the Lindau dialogue are ongoing," the Countess pointed out, referring to the continuous progress in the scientific programme of the meetings and the various activities and projects implemented beyond the annual meetings, to connect science with society. Projects like the exhibition ‘Sketches of Sciences', the ‘Nobel Labs 360°' and the new Lindau Mediatheque all form part of the ‘Mission Education' of the council and the foundation. The scientific programme of the 62nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting comprises 26 lectures and discussions, as well as four science master classes. Every year since 1951, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have been bringing together the best scientists of their times and outstanding young scientists from all over the world. The meetings focus alternately on medicine and physiology, physics, chemistry, and economic sciences.
