International Risk Governance Center
FoundedGeneva, Switzerland (2003)
TypeInterdisciplinary Center
FocusRisk governance
Risk management
Regulations
Policy
Science
HeadquartersÉcole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland
Area served
Worldwide
Websitewww.epfl.ch/research/domains/irgc/

The International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) is a neutral interdisciplinary center based at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. IRGC develops risk governance strategies that focus on involving all key stakeholder groups, including citizens, governments, businesses and academia. It exists to improve the understanding, management and governance of emerging and systemic risks that may have significant adverse consequences for human health and the environment, the economy and society. Its mission includes "developing concepts of risk governance, anticipating major risk issues and providing risk governance policy advice for key decision-makers."[1]


History

IRGC began as a non-profit called the International Risk Governance Council in 2003, when academics from various countries proposed to the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research to create an international and independent body with the mission to develop and implement concepts and actions to improve the governance of risk. The Swiss Federal Assembly then created the International Risk Governance Council to bridge increasing gaps between science, technological development, decision-makers, and the public.[2] It was formally founded in Geneva as a private foundation in June 2003.[3]José Mariano Gago, the former Portuguese Minister for Science and Higher Education, was the first chairman of the Foundation Board followed by Donald J. Johnston and Granger M. Morgan. Wolfgang Kröger was the founding rector.[4]

In July 2012, the council was granted special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).[5] As of January 1, 2013, the International Risk Governance Council signed a formal collaboration agreement with EPFL and moved to Lausanne. The goal of this move was strengthened collaboration with academia, which allowed the council to expand its academic network and further develop its science-based approach. In July 2014, it became a member of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).[6]

In 2016, the Council became the International Risk Governance Center (IRGC) at EPFL, where it continues to develop the original mission and activities.[7]

Activities

IRGC's work is rooted in the IRGC Risk Governance Framework,[8] which was developed to provide guidance to organizations and society for identifying and managing risks in situations of complexity, uncertainty or ambiguity. IRGC develops risk governance concepts and has developed numerous frameworks, including on the governance of emerging[9] and systemic[10] risks. These frameworks are applied to a wide range of specific risk domains.

IRGC's frameworks are used by numerous institutions and organizations, including the European Food Safety Authority,[11] the Health Council of the Netherlands,[12] the US Environmental Protection Agency,[13] the OECD,[14][15][16][17] and the European Commission.[18]

At EPFL, IRGC is one of the centers that act at the interface between academic research and education, and business and policy. IRGC interacts with the EPFL community and contributes a risk governance approach to their activities.

In recent years, IRGC has focused increasingly on risks associated with emerging technologies. Currently, IRGC is active in the areas of nanotechnology,[19] climate engineering,[20][21] the low-carbon transition,[22] space debris collision risk,[23][24][25][26] deepfake,[27][28] and governance of digital technology.[29][30][31]

Past areas of focus include biosecurity,[32] precision medicine,[33] synthetic biology,[34] unconventional gas development, bioenergy, and critical infrastructure.[35]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mission and Purpose IRGC. Retrieved 10 April 2015
  2. ↑ Botschaft über die Förderung von Bildung, Forschung und Technologie in den Jahren 2004–2007. Federal Gazette (2003). Retrieved 06 August 2014.
  3. ↑ Eidgenössisches Departement des Innern Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 06 August 2014
  4. ↑ "History". IRGC. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  5. ↑ List of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council as of 1 September 2013. United Nations Economic and Social Council. Retrieved 06 August 2014.
  6. ↑ SDSN Welcomes New Members. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Retrieved 06 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "EPFL International Risk Governance Center". IRGC. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  8. ↑ "Risk governance framework". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  9. ↑ "Emerging risks". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  10. ↑ "Guidelines for the governance of systemic risks". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  11. ↑ Renn, Ortwin; Dreyer, Marion, eds. (2009). Food Safety Governance. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-69309-3. ISBN 978-3-540-69308-6.
  12. ↑ Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport (2006-04-27). "Health significance of nanotechnologies - Advisory report - The Health Council of the Netherlands". www.healthcouncil.nl. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  13. ↑ "Document Display | NEPIS | US EPA". nepis.epa.gov. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  14. ↑ OECD (2020). "SHAPING THE COVID-19 RECOVERY: Ideas from OECD's Generation Y and Z" (PDF). Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  15. ↑ Tõnurist, Piret; Hanson, Angela (2020-12-24). "Anticipatory innovation governance: Shaping the future through proactive policy making". OECD Working Papers on Public Governance. doi:10.1787/cce14d80-en. S2CID 234898358. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ↑ "OECD". read.oecd-ilibrary.org. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  17. ↑ "Systemic Thinking for Policy Making: The Potential of Systems Analysis for Addressing Global Policy Challenges in the 21st Century". www.oecd-ilibrary.org. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  18. ↑ "NRA - European Commission". drmkc.jrc.ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  19. ↑ "NANORIGO – NANOtechnology RIsk Governance". Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  20. ↑ FOEN, Federal Office for the Environment. "International Affairs: Studies". Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  21. ↑ "Combatting climate change through a portfolio of approaches". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  22. ↑ Sanctuary, Hillary; IRGC (2021-02-18). "The time to take low-carbon transition risks seriously is now". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. ↑ Kriening, Torsten (2021-07-11). "#SpaceWatchGL Opinion: Addressing the limitations of our current approach to collision risk from space debris". SpaceWatch.Global. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  24. ↑ "Le danger du chaos spatial". Le Temps (in French). 2021-07-10. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  25. ↑ "Les débris spatiaux, casse-tête pour la gouvernance internationale". www.heidi.news (in French). Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  26. ↑ Buchs, Romain (2021-06-04). "Collision risk from space debris: Current status, challenges and response strategies". Infoscience. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  27. ↑ "How Swiss scientists are trying to spot deepfakes". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  28. ↑ "Risk governance and the rise of deepfakes". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  29. ↑ Viscusi, Gianluigi; Collins, Aengus; Florin, Marie-Valentine (2020-09-23). "Governments' strategic stance toward artificial intelligence". Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance. ICEGOV 2020. Athens, Greece: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 44–53. doi:10.1145/3428502.3428508. ISBN 978-1-4503-7674-7. S2CID 225954326.
  30. ↑ "Governance Of and By Digital Technology | hosted by EPFL & IRGC". Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  31. ↑ "Using "proof of personhood" to tackle social media risks". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  32. ↑ Trump, Benjamin D; Galaitsi, Se; Appleton, Evan; Bleijs, Diederik A; Florin, Marie-Valentine; Gollihar, Jimmy D; Hamilton, R Alexander; Kuiken, Todd; Lentzos, Filippa; Mampuys, Ruth; Merad, Myriam (2020-07-01). "Building biosecurity for synthetic biology". Molecular Systems Biology. 16 (7): e9723. doi:10.15252/msb.20209723. ISSN 1744-4292. PMC 7373080. PMID 32692486.
  33. ↑ "Precision medicine". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  34. ↑ Haffner, Julie (2019-07-16). "Evaluating the risks posed by synthetic biology". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. ↑ "Resilience". www.epfl.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
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