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Archive containing HTML versions since August 1998 is at http://itri2.org/ITRInews/

 R. D. Shelton, Editor:  rds@itri2.org
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In This Issue of ITRInews
S&T Policy of the New U. S. Administration
The Science Education Gap
Chinese Invest Heavily in S&T Education
Brookings Institution Seminar on S&T Policy
The Corporate R&D Scorecard from Technology Review
8th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics

ITRI Alumni News
David G. Messerschmitt
Jon Bentley

Featured Organizations in International S&T:
Clearinghouse of National S&T Policy and Assessment Organizations:
Office of Technology Assessment Legacy Sites
U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy
International Association for Technology Assessment and Forecasting Institutions
EC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies
European Science and Technology Observatory
European Technology Assessment Network
German Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis
Korean Science and Technology Policy Institute
S&T Policy Organizations of Taiwan, PRC, Japan, France, Australia, and the UK.
 
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S&T Policy of the New U. S. Administration

The new Bush Administration outlined its policies for "Technology and the New Economy" as one of the leading issues on its campaign website:

Governor Bush understands that hard-working entrepreneurs created the New Economy, not government. But, as he has shown in Texas, which leads the nation in high-tech job growth, government can create an environment in which entrepreneurs flourish: an environment that encourages innovation, rewards risk-taking, and promotes equal opportunity. Thus, as President, he will support the growth of the New Economy by cutting taxes, encouraging investment in R&D, curbing frivolous lawsuits, pursuing free trade and implementing sensible export controls.  To ensure that all Americans share in the benefits of the New Economy, Governor Bush will reform education through high standards and accountability, accelerate e-government, and increase access to assistive technologies for Americans with disabilities.  http://www.georgewbush.com/issues.asp?FormMode=FullText&ID=1

I couldn't find any general science policy at the campaign website, but Mr. Bush did call for doubling the 1998 NIH R&D budget by 2003 to $27.3 billion in a speech at: http://www.georgewbush.com/News.asp?FormMode=NR&ID=1451 Mr. Bush responded to questions from Science Magazine for a Presidential Forum published in the October 13, 2000 issue.  His top three priorities in S&T were: education for the high-tech economy, making the R&D tax credit permanent, and an international agenda to support America's high-tech companies -- by making the Internet tax-free, dismantling non-tariff barriers to trade in IT, combating IP theft, and development of e-commerce standards.  On education policy in the field, Mr. Bush stresses accountability.  He supports raising H1B visa quotas as an interim solution to IT labor shortages, supports more DOD research, and more NSF research funding without endorsing a doubling commitment. [This pdf file takes almost as long to download as the election recount did.]  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/289/5488/DC1/1

The Congress has a more detailed plan, Unlocking our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy,  prepared in 1998 under the leadership of then Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Vernon Ehlers.  Now that the Republicans are leading the Executive Branch as well as the Congress, they are in a much better position to implement this plan.  http://www.house.gov/science/science_policy_report.htm

The Science Education Gap TIMSS-R results confirm a disaster for U.S. education in math and science.  In anticipation of this release, the October ITRInews25 reviewed the original Third International Math and Science Study of 1995, which showed that American kids were among the leaders in the 4th grade, about average in the 8th grade, and were at the bottom of the 41 country field in the 12th grade.  These results were so shocking that U.S. politicians and educators set a goal of being of leading the world in 2000, and some reforms were instituted.  TIMSS-R (Repeat) was conducted in 1999 to test achievement of that goal, and to track the performance of that 4th grade cohort.  Unfortunately it demonstrates that the longer students are in the American schools, the worse their performance is -- relative to other countries.   The performance of U.S. 8th graders was exceeded by those in most industrial nations, including Singapore, Taiwan, Russia, Canada, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Australia.  They were still ahead of students in less developed nations like Iran, Jordan, Chile, Indonesia, Macedonia, and South Africa.  However, it doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that they will fall behind even this group in in 2003 unless some drastic changes are made in U.S. education at once.

TIMSS-R was a massive project with 180,000 students from 38 countries participating.  The results will be analyzed for years; a comprehensive treatment by Pascal Forgione of the implications of the 1995 findings is at http://www.nces.ed.gov/Pressrelease/science/index.html  These first results from TIMSS-R were on the front page of the New York Times on Dec. 6, 2000,   http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/05/national/06EXAM.html   (You have to register as a NYT user, but it's free.)

Chinese Invest Heavily in S&T Education  The PRC announced a strategy in 1995 "to revitalize the country through science and education."  Since then, it has focused on promoting development investments in S&T and education.  The two "basic" goals, requiring nine-years of education and eliminating illiteracy, will be achieved, as 99.1 % children now attend school and the rate of illiteracy has dropped to below 5.5 %.  Since 1996, 450 universities were restructured into 188 stronger ones, which include complete programs in S&T, literature, agriculture and medicine.  In 1999, the government enlarged the scale of higher-education: the universities enrolled 1.6 million students in 1999, 47.4 % more than the previous year.  The number of new recruits in 2000 leaped to 2 million, 25 percent more than the previous year. [Such investments in education funded by PRC economic success in the international marketplace portend a dramatic improvement in its international position.  The proverbial bell-shaped curve shows that the PRC has more smart people than the U.S. has people, and now they are going to be well educated, too.] From the NSF/Tokyo e-letter on China. kshinoha@nsf.gov

Brookings Institution Seminar on S&T Policy in a Postmodern World.  This week-long workshop covered new forces affecting S&T and their impact on government, academia, and industry. Topics included: the Congressional agenda for S&T policy; Internet policy issues; current research at the national laboratories; public understanding of science; emerging energy technologies; and how the media cover science.  $3750 Corporate, $3000 Government/Nonprofit.  This was held December 4-8.  You can start saving up for encores in April and October.  http://www.brook.edu/execed/open/science%5Ftech.htm

The Corporate R&D Scorecard U.S. industry now funds two-thirds of American R&D, reducing the Government to a minority player.  A fascinating table from Technology Review shows which market sectors and which companies dominate this investment in R&D. Which large international company invested the most ($7.1 billion) in R&D in 2000? Hint: it's in a sector that is not thought of being high-tech at all.  Which increased R&D spending the most this year; which decreased it the most?  Which company spent 540% of its revenue on R&D -- hint: it's the same company that spent $325K per employee. The answers might surprise you.  Click on
http://www.techreview.com/articles/nov00/rdscorecard.htm

MIT's Technology Review covers innovation and the role it will play in our society. Stories: Hot areas of emerging technology, advances in existing technologies, stories of entrepreneurship and venture capital, major breakthroughs in basic research with commercial impact, and the impact of technology on culture and society.  Free trial issues are available on the Web, and a free e-letter. http://www.techreview.com/

8th International Conference on Scientometrics and Informetrics  will be be held at the University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia, July 16-20, 2001, by the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI).  Abstracts of potential papers are due by January 12, 2001. Scientometrics investigates quantitative aspects of science; it is the quantitative arm of the Science of Science, of Scientific Communication Studies and of Science Policy Studies. Informetrics investigates quantitative aspects of information (communication) processes, particularly those using text; it is the quantitative arm of Information Science and of Library Science. Scientometrics and Informetrics are bound through their mutual interest in scientific literatures. Their statistical and mathematical orientation does not preclude analysis by qualitative methods.   http://sistm.web.unsw.edu.au/conference/issi2001/

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ITRI ALUMNI NEWS
ITRI recruits distinguished scientists for its panels, and as time goes on, many move to leading positions.  Some more examples:

David G. Messerschmitt wins IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal -- "For fundamental contributions to communications theory and practice, including VLSI for signal processing, and simulation and modeling software."  He is currently the Roger A. Strauch Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley.  He is also Co-founder and Director of TCSI Corporation.  He serves on the advisory board for the Directorate for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering at NSF, and he is co-chairing a National Research Council study on the future of information technology research. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  Dr. Messerschmittt was a member of our panel on High Density TV in Japan in 1990.
http://www.ieee.org/about/awards/99bios/messerschmitt.htm
 
Jon Bentley is recipient of this year's Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming Award. Dr. Bentley is at Bell Labs, the R&D arm of Lucent Technologies. Over the years, his work has focused on research in algorithms (computational geometry, optimization, network design, and data compression), UNIX tools, and product development. Bentley's work became more widely known to the programming community through his  "Programming Pearls" column for Communications of the ACM. This column led to his most famous book, Programming Pearls, which was recently released in its second edition (Addison-Wesley, 2000).  Dr. Bentley was a member of the JTECH panel on Computer Science in Japan in 1983.  http://www.ddj.com/articles/2000/0004/0004a/0004a.htm
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FEATURED ORGANIZATIONS THIS MONTH

This issue features national S&T policy institutions.  I suspect that many were inspired by the late, lamented Office of Technology Assessment, which set the standard for excellence in S&T policy analysis.  It is ironic that the U. S. is one of the few large industrial nations that has no major S&T policy institution at this level. I don't think OSTP is exactly comparable, because it mainly advises the President, and has a very limited staff. Perhaps the Europeans can lend us one of theirs; they seem to have plenty.

OTA Legacy Site.  An archive of complete reports is maintained by Princeton University.  Mirror sites are maintained at the National Academy of Sciences and the U. S. Government Printing Office.  http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/

U. S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a branch of the U. S. Executive Office of the President.  It is headed by Neal Lane, who is also Assistant to the President for S&T.  Its website starts with: "The Federal Government plays a critical investment role in maintaining American leadership in science and technology. In 1976, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was created to provide the President with timely policy advice and to coordinate the science and technology investment." http://www.ostp.gov/
 
International Association for Technology Assessment and Forecasting Institutions Governmental, educational and research institutes worldwide apply technology assessment and forecasting to a diverse range of problems. Technology assessment as a basis for satisfactory technology choice is critical for a country's effort to achieve sustainable development. The goal of the IATAFI is to advance international co-operation among technology assessment (TA) and forecasting institutions (TF) to support sound decision-making regarding sustainable development.There don't appear to be any U.S. institutional members. http://www.iatafi.org/

EC Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) is one of the eight research institutes of the European Commission (EC). These institutes together, make the EC Directorate General known as the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which is the corporate research laboratory of the European Union with sites in Ispra (Italy), Geel (Belgium), Karlsruhe (Germany), Petten (the Netherlands) and Seville (Spain).  IPTS was established in Seville in 1994 to bridge the gap between S&T and society. The mission of the Institute is to collect information about technological developments and their application in Europe and the world, to analyse it and to transmit it to European decision makers.”  The IPTS Report is a free e-journal of technology policy studies. http://www.jrc.es/welcome.html

European Science and Technology Observatory (ESTO) is a network of European organizations that assist, inform and alert the IPTS  regarding S&T breakthroughs, trends and events of potential environmental and/or socio-economic importance that may call for action at a European decision-making level. ESTO members supply the IPTS with S&T information drawn from all over the world. This information is then channeled by the IPTS to European S&T policy-makers. The observatory comprises more than 30 major European policy advising organizations and think tanks and has partnerships with overseas organizations. http://esto.jrc.es/  Its list of partners is a who's who of European S&T policy organizations. http://esto.jrc.es/partners.html

European Technology Assessment Network. The purpose of ETAN is to promote communication and debate at the European level between policy researchers and policy makers on important science and technology (S&T) policy issues. http://www.cordis.lu/etan/home.html

European Science Foundation Playing a distinctive and increasingly significant role in science policy development, the ESF provides expert and objective advice on a wide range of issues. Through its series of position papers and briefings, workshops and symposia, the Foundation aims to ensure that the voice of European science is heard on major policy issues affecting Europe’s scientific community. These can range from assessing the scientific case for a new large research facility to examining the relationship between research and risk finance.  http://www.esf.org/policy/policy.htm

German Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis The ITAS is part of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Research Centre). ITAS is active in: sustainable development, efficient use of resources, new technologies and the information society, and concepts, methods and functions of problem-oriented research. http://www.itas.fzk.de/home.htm  ITAS has an extensive clearinghouse of technology assessment institutions at: http://www.itas.fzk.de/eng/tainst/deutsch.htm

Korean Science and Technology Policy Institute STEPI aims to contribute to the enhancement of national S&T capability by : providing the government with policy alternatives based on research and analysis on key issues in S&T,  assisting private industries with strategies for innovation and  disseminating information on S&T policy, indicators and statistics.
http://www.stepi.re.kr/english/index.html

Canadian Clearinghouse on S&T Policy Institutions:
http://stimap.matrixlinks.ca/STLinks/PolicyRes_andEdu.html

Other S&T Policy Institutions from Previous Issues of ITRInews:
Japan: National Institute of Science and Technology Policy http://www.nistep.go.jp/index-e.html
PRC: Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China http://www.istic.ac.cn/english/
Taiwan: The Science & Technology Information Center http://www.stic.gov.tw/eng_home.htm
France: Observatoire des Sciences et des Techniques  http://www.obs-ost.fr/ost_en/present.htm
Australia: Science and Technology Analysis Section http://www.isr.gov.au/science/analysis/intro.html
UK: Office of Science and Technology http://www.dti.gov.uk/ost/aboutost/index.htm
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Copyright © 2000 ITRI, Inc. ITRI, Inc. or its sponsors do not accept responsibility for the accuracy of information. Comments to rds@itri2.org please.

HTML versions are at: http://itri2.org/ITRInews/
 
 

DATE	FEATURE ARTICLE	URL
Aug 98	Left Hand/Right Hand: NSF and NAS Both Assess US Math Research	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews1.htm
Sep 98	The Y1.998K Problem: Y2K Arrives 0.002K Early. Markets Crash, PMs Fired, Orioles 31 Games Behind	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews2.htm
Oct 98	Is S&T to Blame for the Asian Financial Crisis?	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews3.htm
Nov 98	NRC to State:  Ignoring S&T is Ignorant	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews4.htm
Dec 98 / Jan 99	The Bottom Line: US Trade Deficit Skyrockets	http://itri.loyola.edu/NEWS/ITRInews5.htm
Feb 99	Who's the Bear, and Who's the Bull? Japan Doubles R&D; The US Cuts It	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews6.html
Mar 99	Who's On First? (US, But Not for Long)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews7.html
Apr 99	GPRA Metastasizes Abroad	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews8.html
May/Jun 99	Teraflops Computers Meet Gates' Law	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews9.html
July 99	More Good News / Bad News from the Academy	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews10.html
Aug 99	Rep. George Brown Adjourns	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews11.html
Sep 99	200GB Disk: 40 Films on One CD	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews12.html
Oct 99	Is International S&T Assessment Needed?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews13.html
Nov 99	Output in Papers: We're Number One?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews14.html
Dec 99 / Jan 00	New Technology Czar(ina)	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews15.html
Feb 00	S&T: Ready for Prime Time?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews16.html
Mar 00	Bottom Line II: Trade Deficit Skyrocket Explodes	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews17.html
Apr 00	Who's Getting U.S. Patents?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews18.html
May 00	Think That Government is Investing More in Research? Think Again.	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews19.html
Jun 00	American Leadership of S&T: Reality or Myth?	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews20.html
Jul 00	Science and Engineering Indicators 2000 Released by NSF	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews21.html
Aug 00	Pale Green Manufacturing: US is 3rd out of 3	http://justice.loyola.edu/~rds/ITRInews22.html
Aug 00 (Extra)	Americans Like Being No. 1 and Want to Keep It That Way	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews23.html
Sept 00	Industry Leads U.S. R&D	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews24.html
Oct 00	Gingrich Praises Clinton	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews25.html
Nov 00	Research Feasts: FY2001 Budgets	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews26.html
Dec 00	S&T Position of the New Administration	http://itri2.org/ITRInews/ITRInews27.html