Speakers and delegates from across the world will come to Cambridge next month for an international conference on globalisation, technology and development. The conference will be hosted by the Cambridge Review of International Affairs (CRIA) in conjunction with the Centre for International Studies.

The event will build on last year's CRIA conference, which explored the impact of the internet on state security. This year's conference will expand its exploration of globalising technologies to look at their implications for human development.

The popular idea that the internet has created a global village seems unrealistic at a time when a third of the world's population still has no access to electricity, yet human development professionals believe that new technologies hold great promise for the world's poor. Last year the United Nations Development Programme announced that harnessing the power of the new communications technologies was one of its main priorities.

The conference will bring together the proponents and critics of globalisation to engage on the issues that underpin the debate on globalisation and development:

  • Will the spread of technologies through globalisation create a more level economic and political playing field?
  • Would the relaxation of patent and copyright laws in the developed world - in the pharmaceutical industry, for example - help save and enhance lives in the developing world?
  • Should governments and NGOs step back and allow markets and the private sector to play a greater role in the transfer of technology?
  • To what extent should the "winners" of globalisation and free trade compensate the "losers"?

The 2002 CRIA Conference will be an opportunity for all those who wish to understand and contribute to the debate on globalisation and development - including policy and academic practitioners, NGO and corporate leaders and journalists - and will be of interest to those who are affected by globalisation, technology and development.

Globalisation, technology and development
11 May 2002
Trinity College, Cambridge

Attendance at the conference is free.
To register visit the CRIA website.

Cambridge Review of International Affairs
The CRIA is a non-profit organisation that publishes a leading academic journal and hosts an annual conference in association with the Centre of International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Its aim is to foster discussion regarding developing theoretical and practical issues in international relations. Through cutting-edge academic research, policy analysis and commentary, CRIA offers innovative perspectives to current debates.

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