THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

Presents

A Technology and Innovation Seminar

"From Agriculture in the Tropics to Research and Technology Based Tropical Agriculture: The Brazilian Experience"

Dr. Félix Humberto França, Embrapa Labex-USA at USDA /Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD.

When: May 13, 2009 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

To RSVP: cistp@gwu.edu

1957 E Street, Room 602, Washington, DC 20052

The widespread concern that undeveloped countries may succumb to famine and diseases due to food shortages is not recent. To address that, concerted international responses were implemented in the 1950s, 60s and 70s with relative success in a few countries. In the last 35 years Brazil evolved from a large importer of agricultural goods into one of the major global players in the agricultural sector. Public investment in education, infrastructure and research and development and innovation in agriculture provided the foundation for change. One of the major strategic decisions for transforming the country from a stage of food dependency subsistence low input agriculture or “agriculture in the tropics” to a commercial technologically advanced food sustainable/crop production system or “tropical agriculture” was the creation of Embrapa-The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation in 1973. Embrapa’s experiences in north-south/south-south collaborative networks for innovation in the last three decades and prospects for the future will be presented.

Félix H. França is a researcher of Embrapa-The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation since 1977. He received the B.S. degree in agronomy from University of Brasilia in Brazil, M.Sc. in entomology from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. degree in Entomology and Plant Breeding from Cornell University . He was Research Fellow with the Brazilian National Research Council [CNPq], from 1993 to 2002 and his research has been published in Latin America, as well as in Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science and American Potato Journal. Previously, he was the executive secretary of the Horticultural Sectorial Chamber of the Ministry of Agriculture in Brazil, Fruits & Vegetables Research Program and MacroProgram II – Sustainability and Competitiveness of the Agricultural Sector at Embrapa. Currently, he is the coordinator of Labex-USA, a virtual laboratory/partnership model that explores new and mutually beneficial collaborations in agricultural research between Embrapa and USDA Agricultural Research Service and Forest Service.

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The Center for International Science and Technology Policy

Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University

&

The Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa

Present

ALAN BROMLEY LECTURE:

Policy as Science

Wed., April 29 | 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. | Lindner Family Commons, 6th Floor

1957 E Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20052

John H. Marburger, III
-University Professor, Departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering, SUNY-SB

-Former Science Advisor to the President of the United States and Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (2001-2009).

John H. Marburger, III, served as Science Advisor to the President and Director of OSTP during the George W. Bush Administration (2001-2009). Prior to his federal service, he was Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1998, and the third President of Stony Brook University (1980-1994). He came to Long Island in 1980 from the University of Southern California where he had been a Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering, serving consecutively as Physics Department Chairman and Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in the 1970’s. Professor Marburger attended Princeton University (A.B. aPhysics 1962) and Stanford University (Ph.D. Applied Physics 1967).

Presentation Abstract: Politics is a necessary ingredient of policy-making, but political acceptance does not assure policy success. Thinking of policy as science emphasizes features of policy-making and implementation needed for long term policy effectiveness. Identifying and strengthening these features in the processes of American science policy warrants a long term campaign that challenges the current advocacy-based approach. An emerging consensus on the need for a 'science of science policy' suggests that such a campaign may be feasible.

Please RSVP to cistp@gwu.edu with your name and affiliation.

Center for International Science and Technology Policy

Elliott School of International Affairs
George Washington University
1957 E ST NW Suite 403
Washington DC 20052
202-994-7292

cistp@gwu.edu

Directions: The building of the CISTP is served by Metro. The nearest stops on the Orange and Blue lines are Foggy Bottom and Farragut West. The nearest stop on the red line is Farragut North. There is a visitor's parking at the basement with clearly marked entrance on 19th Street. Read more!

THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

Presents

A Technology and Innovation Seminar

"Federal R&D Employment Growth "

Professor Albert Link, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

When: April 15, 2009 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM

1957 E Street, Room 602, Washington, DC 20052

Please RSVP: cistp@gwu.edu

The economic impact of federal R&D spending has long been a topic of policy interest. The literature on the subject includes case studies of federally-funded initiatives, econometric analyses of the statistical relationship between federal R&D and total factor productivity, and evaluations of the social impact of federal research programs. To date, there has not been a systematic investigation of the impact of federal R&D on employment growth.
Professor Link will present his findings about the impact of Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) program awards on the employment growth of
recipient company. He will conclude that, per company, the average employment gain attributable to SBIR support has been between 21 and 41 employees, and the average employment gain per million dollars awarded has been between 32 and 65 employees.

Albert N. Link is professor of economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He received the B.S. degree in mathematics from the University of Richmond and the Ph.D. degree in economics from Tulane University . His research focuses on innovation policy, the economics of R&D, and university entrepreneurship.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Technology Transfer. Professor Link’s most recent books include: Government as Entrepreneur (with Jamie Link, Oxford University Press, forthcoming summer 2009), Cyber Security: Economic Strategies and Public Policy Alternatives (Edward Elgar, 2008) and Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technological Change (Oxford University Press, 2007).

His scholarship has appeared in such journals at the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economics and Statistics, Economica, and Research Policy . Currently, Professor Link is serving as the vice-chairperson of the Team of Specialists of the Innovation and Competitivness Policies Committee of the United Nation's Economic Commission for Europe.

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THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

Presents

A Technology and Innovation Seminar

“Emerging Trends in S&T Diplomacy: Innovation, Competitiveness and Intellectual Security in a Globalizing World”


Andrew W. Reynolds

Deputy S&T Adviser to the Secretary of State U.S. Department of State

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 5:00 - 6:30pm

Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street NW, Room 602
Washington, DC 20052

Refreshments will be served


Please RSVP to cistp@gwu.edu

More information about the speaker and seminar will be available on the CISTP website at www.gwu.edu/~cistp.

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