Go to the STI Global Forum website.
The Global Forum was, in my opinion a great success. Hundreds of people attended, including people from many countries. The program was interesting, and well received. (The website linked above is to provide streaming video and copies of presentations shortly.) Perhaps most important, there was an opportunity for extensive networking.
Unfortunately, there was an ice storm in Washington D.C., and attendance seemed to be down on Wednesday the 14th. Your reporter was one of those affected, and I didn't get to the meeting until the afternoon.
Comment: There have been other meetings in the past that emphasized science and technology for development, including world conferences on the topic in 1963 and 1979. Those conferences were not adequate to catalyze a global movement, and indeed perhaps that conditions in the world were such that such a movement was not possible at the time.
Geoff Oldham suggested that the addition of "innovation" to the focus may help. I agree that science based, technological innovations have played an important role in development in a number of countries that have successfully made (or at least started) the modernizing transition to industrialization, the creation of knowledge based industries, and rapid economic development. Adding "innovation" to the mix is an advance!
I worry that in the interest in innovation, people will lose track of the importance of good professional practice in the science based professions, especially engineering, applied agricultural sciences, applied social sciences, applied health sciences, etc.
Economic growth and infrastructure development are closely related, and the development and maintenance of the transportation, energy, water, sanitation, and communications networks depends of a cadre of engineers adequate in both number and quality to design and operate the infrastructure. The development of manufacturing depends on the availability of mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineers.
Natural resources have to be identified and managed, and one of the earliest scientific functions embodied in the government of the United States was the geological survey. Today, we have soils scientists, foresters, fishery managers, and other professionals deeply involved in natural resource identification and management, and these trained professionals are needed badly in many developing countries.
Similarly, scientifically trained professionals are needed for problem identification and planning of programs to ameliorate those problems that they identify. These include the experts who deal with emerging public health problems, animal health, crop pests and diseases, etc.
It seems redundant to point out that economists play a key role in development, especially in discussion of a meeting convened by the World Bank. But so too do anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, organizational scientists, and others with professional training based in the social sciences play key roles.
Innovation is important, but there is a huge body of existing knowledge, understanding and technology to be applied and managed for development. I am glad that medical research is going on and new medical technologies are in development, but I recognize that when I need a doctor, he is going to spend by far the greatest part of his time doing routine medical procedures. So too, development is more based on routine professional activities being performed well, than on innovation. JAD
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