The Science of Science Policy

I recently discovered the Science of Science Policy website, affiliated to the United States (U.S.) Office of Science and Technology Policy. The U.S. Congress established the Office of Science and Technology Policy in 1976 with a "broad mandate to advise the President... on the effects of science and technology on domestic and international affairs". The goal of the Science of Science Policy community is to "provide a scientifically rigorous and quantitative basis for science policy. The website provides a central location with news, information and research to help inform the Federal Government's science management decisions".

Closely related, the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP) program was established at the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2005 in response to a call from John Marburger III for a "specialist scholarly community" to study the science of science policy. The program has three major goals: "advancing evidence-based science and innovation policy decision making; building a scientific community to study science and innovation policy; and leveraging the experience of other countries. A recent Science article highlights some of the issues addressed by SciSIP researchers."

Seventy-five SciSIP awards have been made to date. The awardees include economists, sociologists, political scientists, and psychologists as well as domain scientists. Some recent SciSIP awards (full abstracts available) which might be of interest to readers include Applied Visual Analytics for Economic Decision-Making and Universities, Innovation and Economic Growth. A report in the New York Times, from a couple of years ago, highlights a dataset that SciSIP funded jointly with the Kauffman Foundation, noting that it "tracks government-sponsored research for science and engineering and links it with government start-ups, patents, and other data. One goal of the research is to identify the characteristics of star innovators, scientists who are most effective in ushering research advances into the marketplace."

Innovation in Education: some Irish success

Amongst the buzz-words one hears a lot about in education these days are innovation and globalization. As this article shows one Irish organization in this field (Hibernia College) is doing well (and doing good too). Curiously enough, it is a for-profit company.

Valuation of innovation: The case of iPhone

Korkeamäki, Timo and Takalo, Tuomas (2010): Valuation of innovation: The case of iPhone. Unpublished.

Abstract:

We estimate the private value of Apple’s iPhone by observing abnormal stock market reactions to news announcements and patent publications related to the innovation. Our estimate of the lower bound on the market valuation of iPhone is fairly high, at minimum 30 billion U.S. (event day) dollars. We find that patentable technology explains about 25% of that total value. We also find a weak negative reaction among Apple’s rivals to the news about iPhone but no significant reaction to the publication of patent documents concerning iPhone can be observed. The evidence suggests that the value of iPhone primarily stems from Apple’s management and marketing abilities and efforts rather than from underlying "hard" technologies and intellectual property.

Where do good ideas come from? - RSA Animate and Steven Johnson

Another gem from RSA Animate - Steven Johnson (science writer) on where good ideas come from.

Upcoming Talks on Science, Innovation and the Economy

10th November: Panel Discussion: What's Smart about Ireland's Smart Economy in 2010?
A panel discussion with Dick Ahlstrom (chairman), Science Editor of the Irish Times; Professor John FitzGerald, ESRI; Dr Brian Kelly, CEO of Celtic Catalysts; Karlin Lillington, Technology journalist, Sean O’Driscoll (CEO Glen Dimplex) and Ferdinand von Prondzynski, former President of Dublin City University.

Organisers: Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Times
Admission is free but booking is essential.

11th November: The Long Debate: Debate on the Innovation Taskforce Report
Taking place in the NDRC on the 11th of November, the debate will draw on the findings of the Innovation Taskforce report.

Launched in March 2010, the report sets out recommendations for developing Ireland into an International Innovation Hub. Members of the Taskforce, including some of Ireland’s leading economic commentators, industry and government members, academics, creatives and entrepreneurs will be in attendance to discuss the nature of innovation within Ireland.

Organisers: Inventorium
Debate: 19.00-22.00
NDRC, Crane St, Digital Hub, Dublin 8
Registration for this event is essential.

17th November: Panel Discussion: Can Science be a Business?
A panel discussion with Dick Ahlstrom (chairman), Science Editor of the Irish Times; Professor Luke O’Neill, TCD; Dr Ena Prosser, Fountain Healthcare Partners; Professor Mark O’Malley, UCD; Professor Emmeline Hill (UCD).

Organisers: Royal Irish Academy and the Irish Times
Admission is free but booking is essential.

Chris Anderson TED Talk

Chris Anderson, who runs TED,  talks about the future and potential innovative potential of online video. One idea in the talk that is interesting is the idea of scientists distributing videos of how exactly they conduct their experiments to facilitate replication. He argues that online video will do for verbal communication what Guttenberg did for written communication. He also argues that it will change teaching and  universities -  "for the first time in human history talented students don't have to have their dreams and potential written out of history by lousy teachers. They can sit two feet in front of the world's finest". Some of the jargon surrounding these initiatives is a little grating but, for want of an alternative, let me go with it. He basically argues that communication in this medium is going from "one-to-many" to "many-to-many", predicting a surge in the amount of people who provide informative content to the online world. He has a nice twist in the end with a clip beamed in from a correspondent living in a Kenyan slum talking about innovative initiatives taking place within his area.

Assorted Links: 7th September 2010

1. The Hewlett Packard Social Computing Lab focuses on 'methods for harvesting the collective intelligence of groups of people in order to realise greater value from the interaction between users and information'.

2. "The agony and the ecstasy: the history and meaning of the Journal Impact Factor" (Garfield and Sher, 2005).

3. Measurement of administrative burden imposed on Irish business by Central Statistics Office inquiries

4. http://www.bundle.com: Track your spending

5. DIT School of Computing launches a new master's programme in data analytics

6. A story on the OECD's Education at a Glance 2010, in today's Irish Independent: "For every €7 spent on a primary pupil, nine is spent on second level and 12 is spent on third level".

7. Another Irish Independent story: the mechanics of random selection in the CAO application process

8. Bloomberg Businessweek: The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies

9. Below is a video from the OECD showing the importance of tax credits for understanding government funding of research and development (R&D). When tax credits are taken into account, Korea spends the most (as a percentage of GDP) on R&D. Canada spends ten times more on R&D tax credits than it does on direct funding for R&D.

Yong Zhao on how our global competitiveness will be damaged by the US government's imposition of high stakes testing

Just as the federal government has announced the awarding of $330 million to two consortiums so that they can develop new national exams, it is more important than ever that people check out this video of one of our best critics of high stakes testing, Yong Zhao.

Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State University, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. More on Prof. Zhao here and here.

He points out that China and other Asian countries are trying to move away from standardized testing, because it kills creativity and innovation, just as the US government is trying to impose it on schools throughout the country.

He also talks movingly about the importance of arts education and nurturing individual talents and resiliency, all of which are damaged by the monolithic emphasis on high stakes testing.

Innovation Dublin

This year’s Innovation Dublin festival will take place from November 10th – 21st. For those 11 days, venues all over the city region will open their doors to showcase and promote innovation in the city.

From the Innovation Dublin website:

If you or your organization has an innovative idea, product, service, project or performance that you’d like to showcase as part of the festival, be sure submit your event and get involved!

A limited amount of meeting and exhibition space is being made available across the city during the festival – for networking events, exhibitions, talks and debates.

Innovation Dublin
Economic Development Unit,
Dublin City Council,
Civic Offices Wood Quay,
Dublin 8.