Daniel Favrat, a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Science and vice-chair of the Energy Committee of WFEO, points out the importance of the Engineers’ Conventions: “WECs are essential events where multidisciplinary approaches can be held and discussions, in order to join forces for the future progress of humanity.” He also comments that Brazil, hosting the event, is an appropriate choice: “Brazil is particularly a good place because there is a lot to expect in the future from South America. In the past we had strong delegations in Xangai and I expect even more people going to Brasília; there are a lot of acquaintances between Brazil and Switzerland and, certainly there will be a lot of interest from Swiss engineers to come.”
Lee Yee-Chong, former president of WFEO - Malasia, co-chair of the UN Millenium Project on Science, Technology and Innovation, believes that the primary aim of the Millenium goals is poverty eradication. When you talk about this eradication, you must have infrastructure. This, composed by irrigation, energy, physical and electronic connectivity, the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) definitely needs engineers. Therefore, engineers are crucial inputs in this process.
Moreover, Chong points out that one of the most important developments in the 21st century in Science, Engineering and Technology is the rise of the developing countries like China, India, Mexico and Brazil. “So, Brazil has got tremendous strength in Science, Engineering and Technology and now, of course, is a world leader in the biofuel, ethanol and sugar cane”. He calls the attention to one of the biggest problems in the world, global warming, due to carbon dioxide emissions. Chong believes that “Brazil is leading the world in solving this problem by having the biofuel ethanol. Therefore, it is more than appropriate to host WEC 2008.”
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