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OCR for page 35
WELCOME
Charles Wessner
The National Academies
Dr. Wessner welcomed the guests from China and the United
States assembled in the National Academy of Sciences to discuss
building bilateral cooperation in science, technology, and innovation.
Within these walls “we often talk about science and sometimes about
technology,” Dr. Wessner noted. “We are learning to talk more about
innovation.” He added that the National Academies Board on Science,
Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP has a “somewhat unique
mission” to integrate the diverse elements of science, technology, and
economics in order to generate policy recommendations for the U.S.
government. Many of these policy recommendations are adopted by
Congress and the Administration.
Dr. Wessner noted that STEP has underway a comparative
assessment of national innovation policies. This program is studying
innovation policies of major nations, such as Japan, India, leading
European nations and regions—and China.1
A real-world understanding of other nations’ practices and
experiences is important for U.S. policymakers, Dr. Wessner said. “One
of the things we struggle with here in the United States is that some
1
For examples of previous comparative studies, see National Research Council,
Innovative Flanders: Innovation Policies for the 21st Century, Charles W.
Wessner, ed., Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2008. Materials
from the September 24-25, 2007, STEP conference “The Dragon and the
Elephant: Understanding the Development of Innovation Capacity in China and
India” may be found at
.
35
OCR for page 36
36 BUILDING THE 21ST CENTURY: U.S.-CHINA COOPERATION
people seem to understand the world better in theory than in practice.
These people often have a powerful influence,” he stated. In comparison,
STEP is looking less in theory and more in fact about what the rest of the
world is doing.
The National Academies also is interested in expanding mutual
cooperation. “With almost everything we need to do to make the 21st
century a more prosperous century, safer century, and more
environmentally friendly century, China and the United States must work
together,” he said.
Dr. Wessner noted that this conference was organized with the
assistance of Cisco Systems Inc. He also thanked the program’s other
sponsors. They include International Business Machine, Intel, the Palo
Alto Research Center, Sandia National Laboratories, the Office of Naval
Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Science
Foundation. He offered special thanks to Patrick Keating, Cisco’s
director of worldwide leadership education, “whose leadership and
common sense have done a great deal to make this program possible.”
Dr. Wessner then introduced the keynote speaker, Ambassador Alan
William Wolff, a former U.S. trade ambassador and chairman of the
Committee on Comparative National Innovation Policies. Ambassador
Wolff also is a research professor at the Monterrey Institute of
International Studies and counsel at the Washington law firm Dewey &
LeBoeuf.
