Purdue University President France A. Córdova participated in a worldwide summit on science and technology Oct. 5-7, 2008, in Japan. More than 400 leaders in science, business, research, media and policy from 76 countries and regions took part in the fifth annual meeting of the Science and Technology in Society forum at the Kyoto International Conference Center in Kyoto, Japan.

Dr. Córdova was asked to summarize three of the sessions. Her report follows:

October 2008

President Córdova provides summary of forum sessions

Córdova adresses STS conference
caption below

Konnichiwa. Ohayo gozaimasu!

I will review three sessions: international collaboration; research collaboration between developed and developing countries; and brain drain, gain, and circulation. The discussions of the three sessions were nicely interrelated.

I will start with brains first, since without brains in S&T, we would have no research collaborations, we would have no international collaboration!

This panel, was led by Dr. Zhang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who gave his own country of China as an example of a transition from brain drain to brain gain. In 1978 there were 180,000 students in higher education, and today there are 19 million, a 100-fold increase. New policies and new incentives, including emphasis on career development, have attracted Chinese faculty back from abroad, and recruited and retained students in China. Thus China is experiencing brain circulation.

In the course of two hours we heard from many countries about their experiences, with a lot of concern from, especially, developing countries. We heard creative responses to challenges of brain drain from others. Princess El Hassen spoke eloquently of Jordan's new El Hassen Science City as a means of keeping students in Jordan. She said, "investment in knowledge pays the highest dividends." Germany's universities are calling on the government to invest 3 percent of GDP in research.

A common problem in many countries is the efficiency of utilizing brains, which may be trained for pursuits that are different than the jobs that are available locally. Thus there can be a mismatch in career training, which aggravates the problem of brain recruitment.

A handout from the parliamentary office of S&T is an analysis of last year's discussion at this meeting about the international migration of scientists and engineers. It says that all migration is rising due to globalization and that the data show a net flow of S&Es from developing to developed countries. A challenge with understanding the depth of the migration issues is that it is difficult to measure migration, and much is unknown about how people are moving back and forth. Some cities, like Bangalore in India, are channels for emigration and return of scientists, largely because of growth in certain areas of the private sector. Brain circulation will depend on government, private sector, and institutes all working towards this goal.

Where there is low investment, low appreciation of higher education, and/or political instability, brains will leave a country. It is important to try to win them back through soliciting the help of a country's diaspora, through, for example, visitations and consultations with government and industry, as well as specific collaborative research programs that engage the diaspora. 

The following point made in this session connects with the next session that I will report on, which is international collaboration. With new communication technologies, our brains can circulate the entire planet. Our partners may physically be thousands of miles away, but we can communicate with them almost instantly, without moving. Thus, virtual international collaboration can be one way to stimulate brain circulation.

There are, of course, other benefits to international collaboration. By bringing people together, either physically or virtually, international collaboration can address global challenges, focusing large efforts in ways not affordable for a single country. Such collaboration can also foster world understanding by sharing diverse perspectives in a common pursuit of knowledge and its application.

This session was led by Dr. Aymar of France, Director General of CERN. We heard about a number of different models of international collaboration, principles of collaboration, and hoped for results from collaboration. Here are the common features of a successful, multi-country collaboration: 

First, the promise of truly revolutionary results (such as new knowledge about the universe, the oceans, climate, matter and energy, and the basis of life);

Second, partners like governments, industry, or nonprofits. These should be counted on to prioritize the project and to provide funding sustainability, including operating costs for large facilities;

Third, powerful new tools with the potential to open new windows on the universe (e.g., ocean drilling tools, platforms in space, new accelerators);

Fourth, robust analytical tools, including databases and universal access to them;

Fifth, the potential for large societal benefit (e.g., water, climate, food security, health and disease, and energy sources), and broad communication of the goals;

Sixth, agreed-upon models for sharing IP and other credit;

Seventh, and probably the most important: visionary leadership. Many excellent ideas are proposed, but without leadership, international collaborations will fail.

Finally, a few words about the third session I am to report on: research collaboration between developed and developing countries, led by Professor Juma of Kenya and Harvard University. Many points are common to those made during the sessions on international collaboration and brain circulation, as you would expect. Numerous approaches were presented for such collaborations, with effective examples including MIT open courseware and establishing research centers of excellence in developing countries. There was broad appreciation of the importance of the Internet and Web sites for linking people globally with needs and opportunities for collaboration. The role of the government in fostering collaboration was stressed, as well as the need for capacity-building within developing countries. Many spoke to the importance of creating robust infrastructures for communication and collaboration within a country, as well as outside of it. It was pointed out that lists of grand challenges already exist, but they need prioritization among countries and financing to build a global community around them. One participant said, "When global private capital meets domestic research ideas, we will realize the goal of linking developed to developing countries."

Duomo arigato to all, especially Minister Omi-san.

CAPTION:

Purdue President France A. Córdova presents a summary of concurrent sessions during the fifth annual meeting of the Science and Technology in Society forum.

Photo courtesy of the Science and Technology in Society.

To the News Service home page