On 26 November, CERN will launch a multidisciplinary science innovation forum and public event: Sparks! Serendipity forum at CERN. For two days a year, Sparks will bring together renowned scientists from diverse fields around the world, along with decision-makers, representatives of industry, philanthropists, ethicists and the public to address some of the big questions of our time. The forum aims to spark innovation in issues related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics that are relevant to society and that further CERN’s mission of science for peace.

The theme of the first Sparks event, which will take place on 17-18 September 2021 at CERN and at HEAD (Geneva University of Art and Design), is future intelligence. The analysis and interpretation of vast amounts of information is at the core of research at CERN. When searching for tiny signals in vast datasets, CERN scientists must avoid bias and embrace novel technologies. Thus, as the challenges faced by particle-physics intensify, CERN has the opportunity to bring together big data and artificial intelligence (AI). After years of mining the LHC data streams, CERN experts will bring valuable insight and contributions to the Sparks! debates, while also learning a lot from participants. 

Join us on 26 November from 4 p.m. (CET) for the virtual launch of Sparks. Professors Anima Anandkumar, Jürgen Schmidhuber, Francesca Rossi and Stuart Russel will comment on the current status of the field of AI research today, setting the scene for the discussion about the future of the field during the event in 2021. Host Bruno Giussani, Global Curator of TED, will interview CERN AI experts Jennifer Ngadiuba, Sofia Vallercosa, Michael Kagan and Michael Doser on the topics we aim to address in 2021, including how CERN and science in general can benefit from AI.

Sparks is part of the CERN & Society programme. CERN & Society activities are only possible thanks to support received from partners, in particular Rolex and its long-standing association with the Organization. The 2020-2021 Sparks event is also supported by Edmond de Rothschild, with support from the Didier et Martine Primat Foundation.

For more information about the event, including a list of the confirmed participants in the Future Intelligence forum and public event on 17-18 September 2021: https://sparks.web.cern.ch/participants