Science & Technology

Making technological change positive for all is the critical challenge of our time. We ourselves—not only the logic of discovery and market forces—must manage it. To create a future where technology serves humanity as a whole, we need a new approach. Therefore, the Belfer Center has launched a new endeavor, the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project.

Disruptive technological change cannot be stopped, but it can—and must—be shaped for overall human good. This semester, Belfer Center Director Ash Carter joined forces with Frank Doyle, Dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, to launch a Faculty Working Group on Technology for Governance and Governance for Technology tackling this issue.

In the modern global economy, nations do not compete; it is specialized regions that compete, according to Calestous Juma, faculty chair of the Innovation for Economic Development executive program. To help countries strengthen their regional innovation systems, the Belfer Center will join Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education in sponsoring a high level executive program beginning May 28.

Calestous Juma, director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization project of the Belfer Center, writes that biotechnology "is emerging as a key driver of economic renewal in developing countries." However, he say, "controversies surrounding the safety of genetically-modified (GM) foods are threatening to undermine international cooperation in this emerging field."

In December, the Belfer Center celebrated four of its founders and learned more about the origins of the Center from their "tales" about its roots. Paul Doty, the Center's founder and first director, currently director emeritus of the Center, was joined by: Albert Carnesale, former associate director, now Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Public Policy and Administration, emeritus and Center board member; Michael Nacht, former assistant director and currently dean of the Gold-man School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley; and Dorothy Zinberg, former director of seminars and special projects, now lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School. Their fact-packed, often humorous tales emphasized the commitment, spirit, and spunk that made the Center what it is today.