Parallel Session B "Knowledge Innovation towards Global Sustainability and Education" (1)
	Francesco Profumo Vice-Chair of the Parallel Session B

1. President Kazuo Oike, Kyoto University, introduced the basic idea of lithospheric sciences and introduced relevant and important activities conducted at Kyoto University, both at research and educational level.

2. President Georges Molinié, Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV), emphasized the crucial role of humanities and social sciences to define what “sustainability” and “equality” are: economic problems, political consideration and social reforms are strictly connected.

3. Pro-Rector Mary Ritter, Imperial College London, stressed the importance of sharing the outcomes of scientific research at educational level, including Master, PhD and Postdoctoral, to provide graduates with skills that match employers’ needs and citizens capable of acting in a global environment.

4. Chancellor Gene Block, University of California Los Angeles, explained that UCLA is now taking leadership in working across disciplinary boundaries, bridging campus and community, forming institutional partnerships and building links with business and industry. Chancellor Block, while supporting the idea for a network of networks, proposed the creation of a new international institution.

5. President Katsuhiko Shirai, Waseda University, emphasized the need of sharing a roadmap to attain global sustainability. In fact Waseda participates in multi-lateral consortium, government-industry-academia alliance, to create a new research and education model to nurture leaders willing to challenge global issues.