A sampling of recent news and notes from the Belfer Center.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Professor Calestous Juma will chair a one-day conference on social responses to disruptive technologies.

The conference will focus on mapping emerging technologies that could address global grand challenges, review their disruptive characteristics, identify potential sources of social concern, and outline business models and public policies on how to address the social concerns.

The conference builds on the findings of the newly published book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies (Oxford University Press, 2016). It will also incorporate demonstrations from entrepreneurs who are using innovative technologies to address global challenges.

For the most up-to-date information, visit the event page.

A new manuscript from the STG Project chronicles the adoption of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement on June 10, 2015. Prof. Calestous Juma and Dr. Francis Mangeni argue that Africa is pursuing regional trade as part of a broader strategy for long-term economic transformation.

Nearly two decades of experience have shown that agricultural biotechnology has the potential to address some of the world’s pressing challenges. Its potential, however, cannot be addressed in isolation. Instead it should be part of a larger effort to expand the technological options needed to address persistent and emerging agricultural challenges.

The aim of this paper is to review the evidence on global trends in the application of agricultural biotechnology and identify some of their salient benefits. The paper is cognizant that biotechnology alone cannot solve the world’s agricultural challenges. But even though it is not a silver bullet, it should still be included in the package of technological options available to farmers. The evidence available today suggests that public policy should appeal more to pragmatism and less to ideology when seeking solutions to global agricultural challenges.

In June 2014 Science, Technology and Globalization Project Director Calestous Juma, in conjunction with Kent School, hosted the Summer Educational Experience at Kent (SEEK) on Science, Engineering, and Innovation. It is one of several activities conducted as part of the pioneering Kent School Pre-Engineering Program.

As Africa's position in the world continues to grow and evolve in 2014, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative continues its tradition of asking its experts and colleagues to identify what they consider to be the key issues for Africa in the coming year.

Calestous Juma and Katherine Gordon argue that biotechnology has the potential to exponentially raise Africa's agricultural production, increase food security, drive economic growth and save African farmers millions of dollars.