The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries.
[7] Originally established in Geneva, Switzerland in 1960, the academy was founded with the aim of creating an informal world association of the highest scientific and ethical norms and standards.
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, numerous scientists and intellectuals, who had witnessed the potential of humankind to destroy itself, began to explore the idea of an international, non-governmental body that could address the major concerns of humanity.
Conversations began between prominent individuals such as Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Joseph Rotblat, who had each played a role in the creation of the atomic bomb and were disturbed about the potential misuse of these new, powerful scientific discoveries.
Einstein, in a foreword (in German) to the book "Science and the Future of Mankind," by former WAAS President Hugo Boyko in 1964, expresses a wish that "The discovery of the atomic chain reaction needs to bring about as little annihilation as the invention of matches.
[13] In 1955 Einstein and Bertrand Russell joined with nine other scientists — four of whom later went on to found The World Academy of Art and Science — to issue the Russell–Einstein Manifesto, warning of the dire threat of global nuclear destruction.
[18] The other three posthumous charter members are Australian botanist Sir Ian Clunies Ross, former President of the International Council of Scientific Research, John Adam Fleming, and ecologist Homer L.
A view commonly expressed by WAAS President Garry Jacobs is that if these challenges are seen from a global evolutionary perspective, it can help identify the characteristics,[20][21] which they all share.
The Geneva conference (UNOG),[22] hosted notable speakers such as Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Emil Constantinescu, Peter Maurer, Herwig Schopper, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, and Anders Wijkman.
A collaboration between WAAS and Club of Rome resulted in an exploration of how humanity could work toward a new civilization initiative[23] — one that recognizes the systemic interconnectedness of people, nations, sectors, activities, challenges, forces and consequences presiding over global development.
[31][32] Notable participants included Micheline Calmy-Rey, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Yukio Takasu, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Ismail Serageldin, Hazel Henderson, Remus Pricopie, Irina Bokova, Dušan Vujović, Emil Contantinescu, Michael Møller, Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Noel Curran, Kehkashan Basu, Jeffrey Sachs, Jane Fonda, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, María Fernanda Espinosa, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Dorothy Tembo and Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker.
[33] Nuclear weapons have been a central concern based on the prominent role of some of the founding members of WAAS — J. Robert Oppenheimer, Joseph Rotblat, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell.
Cleveland had previously served as US Assistant Secretary of State for International Relations during the Cuban Missile Crisis under President Kennedy and the UN Ambassador to NATO during the Johnson Administration.
This pioneering work seeks to place the idea of human security on the mainstream agenda of how conflicts might be resolved, especially with regard to complex issues such as the war in Afghanistan (2021) and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022).
The CEO of CTA, Gary Shapiro made the announcement during a panel discussion hosted by Samantha Murphy Kelly, Senior Writer for CNN Business.
[4] The campaign collaborated with dozens of organizations, educators, scientists, influencers and faith groups to spread the message of human security, that included the Consumer Technology Association, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, World Earth Day event EarthX,[55] the Techsauce Global Summit in Thailand, the International Amateur Radio Union, Milan Design Week, SpellBee International, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents USA, and the Conference of NGOs.
WAAS collaborates with London-based social impact investment firm Force for Good to implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
[58] They support major organizations in their efforts to tackle urgent global issues, including climate change, social inclusion, and sustainable growth.
[59] Their reports suggest strategies to mobilize private sector investments,[60] harness the power of scalable technologies such as AI and quantum computing, and examine how science policy can be adapted to benefit the needs of society.
[63] The Academy's Tao of Finance project was initiated in 2015[64] to examine the feasibility of creating direct central bank complementary currencies for investment in the SDGs.
A fourth offshoot project is focused on the feasibility of financing the Sustainable Development Goals through the insurance and pension fund system by special public bonds with subsidized yields which reflect the true value and overall return to society of the positive and negative externalities associated with investments in the SDGs.
The project is headed by Yehuda Kahane, founder of the YK Center[67] in Israel and Moshe Bareket, Director General of the Israeli Capital Market Insurance & Savings Authority (CMISA).
Panelists included Massamba Thioye of UNFCCC, Yehuda Kahane, Ketan Patel, Stefan Brunnhuber, Phoebe Koundouri, Jeffrey Sachs, Moshe Bareket and YKC co-founder Tal Ronen, presenting innovative financial solutions for addressing climate change and other essential investments in the Sustainable Development Goals.
It called for the creation of a large international research institute for South-East Europe to promote scientific, political, and social cooperation among the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia.
It led to the adoption of what became known as Quantitative easing, the unprecedented creation and injection of funds by central governments to support financial institutions, markets, and the general economy.
"[77][78] Over the next six years, this led to a series of international conferences and colloquia at Trieste (2013),[79][80] San Paolo (2014),[81] Gainesville, Florida (2015),[82] Lisbon (2016),[83][84][85] Cape Town, (2017) [86] and Paris (2018).
[109][110][106][111] The founders of WAAS were committed to the idea of establishing a World University under the auspices of the Academy, with the aim of fostering the growth of knowledge and cultivating enlightened judgment around the needs and aspirations of people.
The expansion of science and technology has put at our disposal an unparalleled instrument of fulfillment or destruction; if man is to take the future evolution of body, mind and civilization in his own hands it is imperative to find more effective ways of integrating what he knows with what he does."
At the UNOG-WAAS conference at Geneva in 2013, WAAS President Garry Jacobs posed the question: "If you were trying to create a global system of world-class higher education accessible and affordable to everyone, how would you do it?"
[131] Former President of WAAS Harlan Cleveland coined the phrase "revolution of rising expectations"[132] to reflect the subjective social and psychological forces that were underlying the objective technological and institutional dimensions of development observed in fast growing East Asian countries after WWII.