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OCR for page 43
PROCEEDINGS 43
Opening Remarks for the United States
The Honorable Philip Murphy
U.S. Ambassador to Germany
Ambassador Murphy thanked the “U.S. team” for attending, and
emphasized “how meaningful it is to our mission to have you here—not just in
Berlin but throughout the country.” He recalled the planning dinner in Berlin
with some of the participants several weeks earlier. “I learned a lot that night,”
he said, “and it became clear that Germany and the United States and their
leaders in the field of innovation have a long history of working together.” He
noted also that the two countries had some different approaches to the subject.
“Those different perspectives, however, I believe are opportunities to learn from
one another and to strengthen our relationship.” He called the symposium “a
perfect example of how we turn these opportunities into tangible results.”
He noted that humanity had depended on technology-based innovation
for its economic progress for centuries, and that this dependence at the start of
the 21st century was more pronounced than ever. The world is now more
complex, interconnected, and resource-constrained, he said, and in the face of
global challenges such as climate change, increasing energy demands, dwindling
water resources, food insecurity, and persistent diseases “we will need to
harness technology in new ways to ensure economic growth and social
development. Now perhaps more than at any time in history we need the tools of
science and technology to build that sustainable future that people around the
world want and indeed demand. 20th century technology is no longer sufficient
to deliver 21st-century solutions.”
The goal of the symposium, he said, was to identify concrete areas
where Germany and the United States can share best practices on such matters
as funding initiatives, intellectual property rights, peer review, scientific
exchange, public-private partnerships, and the role of NGOs. Over the past six-
and-a-half decades, he said, the transatlantic relationship in science, technology,
and innovation had been a success. Large, medium, and small companies from
both countries had made considerable investments on both sides of the
Atlantic—“investments that develop and implement new technologies and create
jobs.”
OCR for page 44
44 MEETING GLOBAL CHALLENGES
EXAMPLES OF U.S.-GERMAN COLLABORATION
Mr. Murphy offered two recent examples. The first was “the world’s
largest onshore wind energy park,” located on former cotton farmland in Texas.
The Rock Hill Wind Farm is owned and operated by the German energy
company E.ON, which has installed 600 wind turbines capable of generating
over 780 Mw of electricity. The second was the decision of the world’s second-
largest photovoltaics manufacturer, First Solar, a U.S. company, to site its main
manufacturing plant in Frankfurt on der Oder.5 “Both E.ON and First Solar are
shining examples of how innovation can bring new jobs and investments to
areas that need them,” he said.
Both countries, he continued, have a long history of robust, bilateral
scientific and technological investment. The United States and Germany have
similar targets of investing more than 3 percent of GDP in public and private
research and development. These investments in basic and applied research
create incentives for private innovation. In both countries, the universities,
federal labs, and industrial laboratories conduct research that leads to
breakthrough products and new companies. German and American counterparts
work closely together to foster research and innovation. The Fraunhofer
Institutes, for example, have seven research centers in the United States, and the
Max Planck Society now has a Center for Bio-Imaging in Tampa, Florida. There
are more than 50 bilateral cooperation agreements between individual
institutions on topics ranging from earth sciences to energy physics to public
health.
As strong and productive as this relationship has been, he said, it is
desirable to reinforce and expand both long-standing and more recent
connections. The relationship was given a more formal structure through a
science and technology agreement signed by the two countries on February 10,
2010, describing an administrative framework for cooperation. The objective is
to continue to identify and intensify relations in education and research, to
coordinate joint research teams, and to interlink shared national priorities in
science policy to the benefit of both sides.
Mr. Murphy pointed to renewable energy as one area where the
countries already work together. The United States formally joined the
International Renewable Energy Agency, or RENA, on March 4, 2011. In
Germany the Bonn Innovation Center for Renewable Energy also opened in
2011, where the United States looks forward to partnering in the development of
clean technologies. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in
Colorado has been collaborating on solar research with three institutes of the
Helmholtz Association since 2008. The partners are seeking to broaden the
5
Frankfurt on der Oder, or Frankfurt (Oder), is smaller than Frankfurt am Main and located in the
former East Germany on the Oder River, which forms the German-Polish border.
OCR for page 45
PROCEEDINGS 45
range of their research through a new MOU focusing on solar photovoltaic
materials and systems, including solar fuels and concentrated solar power (CSP),
as well as performance and reliability.
“I am often asked what I predict for the future of German-American
relations,” he said, “and how our two countries can impact the world in
development and stability. As the world’s pre-eminent manufacturing and
innovation centers, Germany and the United States can not only set an example
by growing their own economies; they can also advance technological know-
how and innovative developments that grow the global economy and serve the
greater international community.”
Mr. Murphy concluded with “an important lesson” relevant to both the
public and private sectors. “It is far better to compete by innovating, leading,
and collaborating,” he said, “than by standing still. This symposium is an
important platform to discuss how we best take advantage of our innovative
capabilities both to compete and to collaborate.”
