Past CSPO Events
- June 15, 2023CSPO DC
Industry 4.0
Formal and Tacit Manufacturing Knowledge in Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property
In recent years, industry leaders and policymakers have begun to assess implications of a fourth industrial revolution that features rapid scalability from prototype to production, use of AI and robotics across the economy, and mass customization of consumer products. At the same time, nations are competing to attract high tech manufacturing through subsidies for strategic industries and enacting barriers to trade in areas of national interest. However, the manufacturing of electronics, medicines, and other technology products involves a complex mix of tacit (often trade secret) know-how and formal knowledge that can be protected through patents and trademarks. This panel will explore formal and tacit knowledge in technology transfer, manufacturing, and industry 4.0. In a period of increasing trade barriers, can technology transfer benefit both sending and recipient nations? What insights do we gain from history for the present situation, and how should policymakers respond to rapid technology change? What implications does industry 4.0 have for the IP system internationally?
Arthur Daemmrich
- April 05, 2023CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Quantity over Quality: How to Solve Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure
Electrifying the transportation sector would bring environmental, economic and equity benefits. However, a significant obstacle to the adoption of electric vehicles is our national charging infrastructure. Current charging infrastructure policy is guided by the needs of gasoline-powered cars, while ignoring many of the unique benefits that electric vehicles possess. Most recent policymaking has focused on high-speed chargers, where an individual can charge their car in minutes, as opposed to hours. These chargers are needed primarily during long distance travel, but they don’t satisfy the daily needs of most drivers. Charging policy should meet the needs of the consumer and incentivize ubiquitous slow speed chargers that allow drivers to charge anywhere, at any time.
On April 5th at 9AM ET, join Ryan Cornell (Arizona State University) for a New Tools in Science Policy seminar on why a paradigm shift needs to occur if we hope to effectively transition to electric vehicles and why electric vehicle charging policy should focus on the quantity of chargers, as opposed to the quality of chargers. He will use real world examples to outline what an idealized charging infrastructure would look like, and how we can develop charging infrastructure policy that accounts for the unique benefits and needs of electric vehicles.
Ryan Cornell
- March 29, 2023CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
How Complexity Science Can Guide Urban Transformations
Lessons from Germany
Bastian Alm, Shade Shutters
- March 21, 2023CSPO DC
Rethinking the Green Revolution
On March 21 at 1PM ET, join journalist Dan Charles (NPR contributor), professor Prakash Kumar (Penn State), and author Marci Baranski for a panel discussion of Baranski’s book, The Globalization of Wheat: A Critical History of the Green Revolution and the legacy of the Green Revolution. Panelists will discuss both successes and shortcomings of the Green Revolution’s impact on wheat production as a rare convergence of biological and political forces. This model, however, may not be as widely applicable as many proponents have claimed. Rethinking the fundamental assumptions and policy learnings from the Green Revolution is necessary to create more inclusive and sustainable solutions for modern agricultural development efforts.
Marci Baranski, Dan Charles, Prakash Kumar
- February 02, 2023CSPO DC - New Tools for Science Policy
Making Research Matter for Policy
Creating Real World Change
“No one reads our papers,” is a common lament among policy researchers. It’s not far from the truth, but it misses the point. How do policymakers actually consume information, how do researchers get it to them, and how do we create real world change?
Robert Cook-Deegan (Arizona State University) has worked on both sides of the policy puzzle for over four decades. First at the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), then the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), and now in academia, Cook-Deegan has seen how to put policy research into the hands of those actually making policy choices—passing legislation, preparing executive orders, legislative oversight of executive action, funding and budgeting, and other government actions—on a schedule and in a form useful to them.
On February 2 at 9 AM ET, join Robert Cook-Deegan for a New Tools in Science Policy seminar on how to achieve meaningful policy impacts through creating ongoing relationships with policymakers and understanding their needs. He will share three case studies on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s to integrating new technologies into the healthcare system. They vary in specificity and ripeness for policy change. The studies will illustrate which methods are best suited to different messages and to different policymaking audiences with different jurisdictions.
Robert M Cook-Deegan
- January 23, 2023CSPO DC
Science on the Offense
Technology Assessment, Anticipatory Governance, and the Future US Innovation System
Science is at the heart and center of our current national renewal. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and the 2022 CHIPs and Science Act, dramatically increase public funding for research and development, create new institutions and linkages, and explicitly call on science to address the most vexing policy challenges from reducing dependence on fossil fuels and creating a 21st century workforce, to combating climate change, to ending cancer as we know it, and winning global competitions on technological innovations. Join the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes on January 23 at 3pm for a discussion about what challenges and opportunities come with this new placement of science and how new policy tools for responsible and anticipatory governance could lead to a more inclusive, robust, and globally competitive innovation ecosystem.
David Guston, Dahlia Sokolov, Angela Bednarek, Arthur Daemmrich
- November 01, 2022CSPO DC
Webinar: How Can the CHIPS and Science Act Deliver on its Promises?
The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August, is one of the most significant pieces of science legislation in years. With $180 billion for research and development over the next five years, it aims to bolster the semiconductor industry as well as federal science agencies like the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. But now comes what many observers view as the hardest part: not only must the money be appropriated, but the act must be implemented in a way that meets its many objectives. Writing in Issues in Science and Technology, a set of experts explored the ways the CHIPS and Science Act can deliver on its promises to spur innovation, strengthen regional economies and workforce, and promote US competitiveness.
On November 1 at 3:00 PM ET, join Yu Zhou (Vassar College), Steven C. Currall (University of South Florida), Venkatesh Naryanamurti (Harvard University), and Maryann Feldman (Arizona State University) in a discussion moderated by Will Thomas of the American Institute of Physics’ FYI on how implementation of this important legislation can best meet—and balance—its many goals.
- October 24, 2022CSPO DC
Webinar: Is There Really a STEM Workforce Shortage?
Claims that there is a significant shortage of STEM talent have been a running feature of STEM workforce policy discussions since the 1950s. The outcomes of these discussions influence not only federal investment in education and training, but also labor and immigration policy, as well as efforts to diversify the STEM workforce. Yet, as Ron Hira writes in Issues in Science and Technology, the data to bolster such claims are often lacking, and some voices are louder than others. How can STEM workforce needs best be determined, and how should policymakers balance the many factors in play?
On October 24 at 1:30 PM ET, join Howard University’s Ron Hira, Trevor Wagener of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Matt Sigelman of the Burning Glass Institute, and Iris Wagstaff of Wagstaff STEM Solutions in a discussion moderated by Lydia DePillis of the New York Times on how to make STEM workforce discussions more nuanced and inclusive.