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OCR for page 17
2
Charting a Path into the Future
In the second half of the forum, the panelists discussed a variety of
issues raised by moderator Charles Vest and by forum attendees.
STRATEGIES FOR INNOVATION
Vest began by asking the panelists whether countries and com-
panies need explicit strategies for technology development, given the
tremendous amount of largely spontaneous creativity that occurs today,
often in areas where new technologies are not expected to exert a great
influence.
Ruth David responded that countries and companies do need strate-
gies and that these strategies must exist in multiple dimensions. Most
important, nations need strategies to create ecosystems that allow inno -
vation to flourish. According to a recent study by the Boston Consulting
Group, the United States ranks eighth in the world in its environment
for innovation, demonstrating the need for a national strategy to make
the United States competitive with other nations.1 In addition, said
David, a national strategy needs an international component, because
so many of the problems countries face today transcend geographic
borders.
Esko Aho agreed that both national and private-sector strategies
are needed. At Nokia, for example, the link from content providers to
consumers is straightforward for entertainment. But for educational
1 James P. Andrew, Emily Stover DeRocco, and Andrew Taylor. 2009. The Innoation Impera-
tie in Manufacturing: How the United States Can Restore Its Edge. Boston: Boston Consulting
Group.
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GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
services, health care services, or banking services, governments have to
be involved to create the conditions for innovation.
Government involvement is also essential for the United States
and European countries to compete with up-and-coming countries like
China, Aho said. The capacity of the Chinese and Indian governments
to create innovative environments is weaker than in the United States,
but the United States and Europe are hampered by the fact that they do
not have an explicit strategy to compete. “We don’t have awareness of
what to do and how to do it,” he said. The United States and European
countries can each have their own strategies, but there must also be an
agreement to protect common interests.
Eric Haseltine said that the issue is less what the strategy is than
who has the strategy. “I am very skeptical that anything the government
could do or would do ever will make a difference,” he said. The United
States is undergoing a slow erosion of its preeminence in science and
technology, in part because the nation does not perceive the current situ-
ation as a crisis. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 was a crisis that impelled
America to act, but no Sputnik exists today.
The focus of a competitiveness strategy must be on the individual,
Haseltine insisted. Both in government and industry, time horizons con -
tinue to shrink, and reward cycles are becoming shorter and shorter. So
industry is concerned largely with the next quarter, while the intelligence
community is focused on the next week because terrorists operate in real
time. A vision for tomorrow must
pay off for individuals today so
“I am very skeptical that
that innovation makes both tomor-
anything the government could
row and today better. Some of the
do or would do ever will make
most important technologies of the
a difference.”
past several decades have had revo-
Eric Haseltine
lutionary long-term impacts while
also paying off for shareholders in
the present. “If there isn’t a strategy that does that, we [will] have no
success at all.”
Ray Stata, in contrast, said that the United States has a “pretty good
strategy, and it actually works pretty well.” That strategy is based on the
relationship between research universities, the federal government, and
industry. “It works remarkably well,” said Stata, “there’s just not enough
of it.” Past federal investments have helped produce America’s scientific
and industrial success, and continued investments will be necessary for
this success to continue. Universities also need the freedom to exercise
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CHARTING A PATH INTO THE FUTURE
their entrepreneurial judgment in
taking on problems such as energy Knowledge inevitably leaks
into the rest of society, but “we
and health care. “It is a question of
don’t regret that. This is one
making that system work better and
of the outputs that we should
not allowing it to erode.” value.”
In the private sector, compa- Ray Stata
nies realize they have to be rep-
resented in emerging countries,
which pushes them to establish
technical resources outside their boundaries to access talent and mar-
kets. Multi-national companies in turn have a tremendous influence on
the diffusion of technology. Stata’s company builds design centers in
other countries and transfers knowledge to engineers working in those
centers. This knowledge inevitably leaks into the rest of the society,
but “we don’t regret that,” he said. “This is one of the outputs that we
should value.”
John Seely Brown suggested that the game may have changed in a
fundamental sense. Strategies may have to focus more on institutional
innovation than on technological innovation. “Are there fundamentally
new types of institutions that we need to create?” For example, the open-
source programs Linux and Apache both have constitutions outlining
acceptable practices. These kinds of innovations, which are unknown to
most people, may be necessary to create the kinds of ecosystems being
discussed. The Media Lab was another institutional innovation in terms
of its relationship with MIT and with industry.
China is currently turning to institutional innovation to counter a
lack of venture capital money for startups, Brown pointed out. Com-
panies form networks among startups centered on good ideas. These
kinds of institutional innovations may be the key to future success. For
example, universities may have to find new ways of working with the
outside world.
Strategies are only as good as the mindset that creates them, said
Bernard Amadei. People in the developed world have an obligation, not
just an option, to address the needs of the 5 billion people whose lives
are precarious. People and nations also have a self-interest in pursuing
this obligation, because isolation tends to create insecurity and instabil -
ity. “In fact, I am quite surprised that we have not had much instability
in Haiti after the earthquake.”
To change strategies, mindsets must be changed. For example,
engineering projects that cross national boundaries are a powerful
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0 GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
way to build international under-
standing. Yet young people in the
China is turning to institutional
innovation to counter a lack ofUnited States are ill prepared by
venture capital for startups.
their educations to address needs
John Seely Brown
at the global level. When Amadei
has brought civil engineering stu-
dents into the developing world and
asked them to pour concrete, they have no idea how to make concrete,
even if they have studied concrete design. “They all want to change the
world, but they don’t know how to do it.” Education must eliminate the
gap that exists today between what students are taught and the needs
of the real world.
AVENUES OF COMMUNICATION
The benefits of openness and communication were a prominent
theme of the panelists’ responses. Amadei, for example, pointed out
huge opportunities in thinking and communicating across borders. For
example, he has been involved in a sewage project in East Jerusalem
where Israeli and Palestinian engineers are working together. “These
people have been taught because of politics to hate each other,” he
said. But “when it comes to solving wastewater and water issues, they
talk to each other because they have something in common.” Engi-
neers can be peacemakers and make the world a better place by help -
ing people find the interests they share, such as energy, water, and
telecommunications.
Engineers Without Borders is not a charity, Amadei emphasized. It
is not about giving away fish but about creating fishing industries that
can empower people who have the ability to succeed. “People have a
lot of talent,” Amadei said. “I see more talent in some villages in Africa
than I see at the University of Colorado to be frank with you: hands-
on talent, skill-based talent, people
who have lived through floods and
droughts and difficult conditions,
Engineers can be peace-
makers and make the world a [people] who know the rules of the
better place by helping people
game. They know more about engi-
find the interests they share,
neering than I do. They know how
such as energy, water, and
to survive.”
telecommunications.
International development is a
Bernard Amadei
two-way street, Amadei said. The
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CHARTING A PATH INTO THE FUTURE
question is not only what the developed world can bring to the devel -
oping world, but also what the developing world can bring to the
developed world. Engineers in India and China are coming up with
frugal solutions to local problems. They know markets, and the mar-
kets are huge. They know how to package products and sell them to
3 billion people.
Negroponte observed that the
most important outcome of a proj- The most important outcome
ect, regardless of its original goals, of a project, regardless of
may be communication. The One its original goals, may be
Laptop per Child program began communication. . . ending
isolation.
with the goal of changing educa-
Nicholas Negroponte
tion, but the most important out-
come of the project has been end-
ing isolation. The combination of
poverty and isolation is devastating, he said. It is critical for children to
be exposed to multiple points of view. When he was working in Gaza,
he was struck by the fact that none of the students there had ever met a
Jew, even though Israel was just a few miles away.
Negroponte also pointed to the transformative power of commu-
nications technologies. It is not possible to ship 10,000 books to a
village in Africa, but 10,000 books can be made available through 100
interconnected laptops. Just as the developing world taught the devel -
oped world that land lines are not necessary in a world of cell phones,
the developing world can demonstrate the value and use of electronic
publications. “This is a very interesting change, because the developing
world is going to change it.” In response to a question from a forum par-
ticipant, Negroponte said that, because of the value of communications,
he believes that scientific literature should be open and freely accessible
anywhere in the world.
Stata observed that hundreds of millions of people are entering the
middle class because of the creation of wealth by technology around the
world. The involvement of these people in a global conversation could
help solve global problems. Corporations too can be powerful instru -
ments for change, he said. Much of the development of the workforce
occurs in the private sector, and the corporate world is more respon-
sive to the marketplace, to customers, and to social change than other
institutions. “From that point of view, I am a bit more optimistic about
where we are heading in terms of the impacts of globalization and the
opportunities for cross-border collaboration.”
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GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
The opposite of global is national, said Negroponte. He has lived in
many countries over the course of his life and has always had multiple
passports. “I look at nationalism as a disease, and as a consequence of
that I don’t think of competitiveness the same way other people might.”
For example, why is the United States more concerned about India than
about Finland? The overriding focus on competitiveness can be destruc-
tive, Negroponte said. One reason MIT is such a powerful university is
because it has so many students from other countries. Those students
provide “different points of view that make the graduate programs and
the research programs so strong.”
INTEGRATING SOCIAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
Vest observed that the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering estab-
lished by NAE—which address energy, water, climate, and sustainabil-
ity; improving the delivery of health care; increasing security against
both natural and human threats; and expanding human capabilities
and joy—all require the integra-
tion of social and technological sys-
tems. How can this integration be
“Until we get a lot better at
integrating and understanding achieved in a world where societal
how human behavior plays
understanding and political will are
into the solutions [to the Grand
often lacking?
Challenges] . . . our progress
David pointed out that the
will be limited.”
Grand Challenges are “the mother
Ruth David
of all systems problems.” Humans
are part of these systems, and the
problems cannot be resolved by technology alone. “Until we get a lot
better at integrating and understanding how human behavior plays into
the solution[s] of these issues, our progress will be limited.” Another
complication with meeting the Grand Challenges is the existence of what
David called the “legacy infrastructure”—technological systems already
in place that reflect outdated thinking. In many cases, this infrastructure
has to be replaced or altered, which may give an advantage to nations
with less infrastructure that can leapfrog ahead of the United States.
Amadei observed that social issues are inevitably intertwined with
engineering issues. To create a fishing industry, there have to be fish and
water in a river. That raises issues of social and environmental justice.
Fishermen have to be sure they can to go the river and that it will not
be closed by insurgents. That is an issue of security. Fishermen need
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CHARTING A PATH INTO THE FUTURE
access to good technology, which is engineering. People need to know
how to skin a fish and how to sell it, which means they have to be social
entrepreneurs. Engineers need to help create fishing industries, not just
technologies for fishing.
Universities generally are not set up to advance understanding of
complex social-technological systems, observed Brown. Instead, solu -
tions often trickle up from below rather than being imposed from above.
For example, marginalized children in inner cities have amazing creativ -
ity if they are given enabling platforms. Two-way avenues of communi-
cation should be established to permit ideas from outside the United
States to work their way into this country. “Americans don’t see it. They
hear about it, but they don’t feel it.”
Stata pointed out that institutional innovations can enhance the abil-
ity of universities to deal with complex social-technological problems.
A model is provided by virtual centers of excellence that bring together
people from multiple universities to work on a particular problem or
issue. “You get better results. But also the people from universities get
together. They learn to work together. They learn from each other.” The
obstacles to collaborative work are usually posed by institutional policies
and structures, not by researchers, Stata said.
Haseltine pointed out the tremendous impact of movies, television,
and video games on people’s attitudes. For example, the television show
CSI has led to a huge influx of people into forensic science because the
show depicted technologists and sci-
entists sympathetically rather than Obstacles to collaboration are
as geeks. “We can help ourselves usually posed by institutional
policies and structures, not by
by working more closely with the
researchers.
media, not on what we do, but on
Ray Stata
who we are,” said Haseltine. “What
audiences relate to is the human
story of someone who is trying to
accomplish something, encounters an obstacle, and through strength of
character overcomes that obstacle. And everyone in this room wouldn’t
be here if they hadn’t done that in life.”
BANDWIDTH AS A FACTOR IN COMPETITION
As an example of a particular technological need, one participant
asked about bandwidth, pointing out that his daughter in the Colorado
mountains can communicate with networks at 1.5 megabits a second,
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GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
whereas a person in Tokyo or Taipei can access 100 megabits a second
and soon will have access to speeds of 1 gigabit a second. Given the
importance of access to adequate bandwidth in a nation’s competitive-
ness, how can connectivity be broadened in the United States?
Governments do not fully understand why bandwidth is important,
said Brown, although the new administration has begun to change that
mindset. Governments think that increased bandwidth is appropriately
used just for education, whereas what bandwidth really allows is for
people to get together and create things they could not create on their
own. The United States needs to reconceive what the broadband infra-
structure can do, which will change the discourse. The current head of
the Federal Communications Commission intends “to bring some of
these changes about,” Brown said.
Aho observed that infrastructure alone is not sufficient. There must
also be content to send over that bandwidth. “You need content, busi-
ness skills, and talent as well,” and this is an area where the United
States is strong.
Member participation in a group discussion.
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CHARTING A PATH INTO THE FUTURE
CHANGING THE NATURE OF ENGINEERING
To achieve the far-reaching goals discussed at the forum, it may be
necessary to make fundamental changes in the engineering profession,
panelists and forum attendees said. Haseltine, for example, insisted that
engineering is not what engineers think it is. Engineering is not about
changing technologies. It is about changing human behaviors. New
technologies can perish in the “valley of death” between the research
lab and the marketplace because people will not change their behav -
iors. Therefore, engineers may have to focus on behaviors to develop a
technology.
Ben Shneiderman of the University of Maryland observed that many
university faculty are having trouble shifting their attention toward
social-technological systems, in part because universities are still reluc -
tant to consider collaboration a measure of academic achievement. As
additional signs of this lack of commitment, the National Science Foun -
dation has only $15 million in its budget for social computational sys -
tems, and NAE does not have a natural home for systems engineering
or social media technologies.
Karl Pister of the University of California, Berkeley, pointed out that
the National Research Council has a division devoted to the behavioral
and social sciences, and NAE could do much more to collaborate with
this division. Another option would be for NAE to abolish its 12 sec-
tions to encourage more cross-disciplinary work.
Another forum participant asked about the feasibility of engineer-
ing schools working with other parts of universities on multidisciplinary
projects. David responded that when she was in graduate school the col-
lege of engineering worked with the medical center at Stanford. “That
was one of the most rewarding sets of projects, because it gave you a
very different perspective as an engineer on seeing what you were doing
in practice. I applaud those kinds of collaborative efforts that cross
disciplinary boundaries.”
Brown said that at the University of Southern California he has
helped develop a collaboration between the Annenberg School of Com-
munication and Journalism, the cinema school, and the school of engi -
neering. The greatest problems with such collaborations are raising and
allocating revenues and ensuring that young faculty members can work
toward tenure, which is why institutional innovation is so important.
Another participant noted that engineering education currently
tends to be very narrow and that NAE could be a positive force for
OCR for page 26
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
change in what engineers learn. Also, involving larger numbers of young
people in NAE could have a beneficial effect on the profession.
WOMEN IN ENGINEERING
The panelists discussed the role of women in engineering, who
could be instrumental in changing the nature of the profession. Amadei
pointed out that 56 percent of the members of Engineers Without
Borders are women. Engineers Without Borders emphasizes the com -
passionate aspect of engineering, he said, which may be why so many
women are interested in the program. A traditional approach to engi-
neering has been simply to try harder if brute force does not work.
“Guess what? You are not going to attract too many young women into
engineering with that kind of marketing strategy. It is time to change
the discussion.” The problems addressed by Engineers Without Borders
reveal that “engineering has a human face. It is not engineering just for
the sake of the technology. It brings the left brain and the right brain
and also brings the heart into the equation.”
David agreed that the closer engineering gets to the application
of ideas, the more it will attract women. There are huge opportunities
for getting closer to the impact of what engineers do. There also are
opportunities for reaching out to girls at much younger ages and show -
ing them role models and examples of the effects engineers have on
the world.
Brown said that engineering is
going to shift more toward a sense
Problems addressed by
of design as a part of engineering,
Engineers Without Borders
and “designers have no trouble
reveal that “engineering has a
attracting women into their profes-
human face. . . . It brings the
left brain and the right brain sions.” Infusing schools of engineer-
and . . . the heart into the
ing with the spirit of design from
equation.”
schools of architecture and other
Bernard Amadei
parts of universities could hasten
this transition.
Vest noted that according to a survey of women with strong math-
ematics skills, 99 percent said they wanted to go into a field where they
can make the world a better place. As a result, NAE has been investigat-
ing ways to highlight the impact engineers can have on the world.
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27
CHARTING A PATH INTO THE FUTURE
THE GLOBAL ENGINEER
The changes cited and predicted by the presenters suggest a new
role for engineers, one in which the increasing prominence of trans -
national problems and the globalization of technology will create a
distinctly global perspective. But how can engineers learn to see beyond
boundaries, a forum participant asked, when boundaries are so often
used to divide rather than unite people?
Haseltine responded by saying that he had gone to hear Beethoven’s
Ninth Symphony in Washington, D.C., the week before. In the final
movement of the symphony, hundreds of people were on stage all sing-
ing together. “It occurred to me that [we all have] different politics,
different points of view, different neighborhoods, but music is border-
less. [With the] people up on stage, what united them—and uniquely in
Washington—was something of the heart, some passion.”
As digital communications lower or eliminate boundaries of time
and space, people can readily find others who share their passions, and
this trend is just beginning. “We are not at the end of social network-
ing,” said Haseltine. “We are at the very beginning of it. Some of these
social networks will help people find each other based on what connects
them versus what separates them. I think that is one of the great and
exciting things about cyberspace.”
Brown agreed that passion can
“I am optimistic . . . that
unite people across boundaries.
new methods [will] create
The new Chicago public library has local, national, and global
a huge digital media learning cen- communities that will have their
ter where students from inner-city impact. . . . It [will take] time
neighborhoods throughout Chicago before we . . . see all these
human and social impacts . . .
gather to create things. “It is amaz-
[but] we have good reason to
ing if you go in there at 3:30 in the
expect that many of them will
afternoon to see people from all the be possible.”
different neighborhoods, almost all Esko Aho
marginalized kids by the way, com-
ing there to actually do things. These
creation spaces offer more to work with than does formal education.”
The coming changes in engineering are momentous, and the prob-
lems that must be solved are pressing. Yet change of this magnitude
will take time even if it begins immediately, cautioned Aho. When
Gutenberg’s printing press first came to Europe, it was used exclu -
sively to do old things in a new way—printing books that monks had
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GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY
been copying for hundreds of years. Only in the 16th century was the
printing press used in new ways, helping to inaugurate religious and
scientific revolutions. “I am optimistic,” he said. “I believe that these
new methods [will] create local, national, and global communities that
will have their impact. But it is not coming overnight. We are just in the
beginning.” Bangladeshis now have a mobile device in their hands with
the same computing capacity as the Apollo moon lander. “It takes time
before we are going to see all these human and social impacts, [but] we
have good reasons to expect that many of them will be possible.”
