You are Invited – The Eagle and the Elephant: Strategic Aspects of the U.S. – India Economic Engagement

THE ASIA PROGRAM AND THE PROGRAM ON AMERICA AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Present a Book Launch for:

The Eagle and the Elephant:

Strategic Aspects of U.S.-India Economic Engagement

Wednesday, June 1, 2011     4:00 – 5:30 pm

5th Floor Conference Room

Speaker: Raymond E. Vickery Jr.

From the book publisher: “The Eagle and the Elephant shows how economic engagement directly affects how theUnited States cooperates withIndia on strategic issues. Through case studies of major efforts, including civil nuclear cooperation, services outsourcing, antiterrorism, and electricity generation and the environment, Raymond E. Vickery Jr. presents both successful and unsuccessful instances of complex collaborations between the two nations…He offers new insight into the interplay of legislative and executive branch officials, policy proponents, business and nonprofit organizations, and activists.”

About the speaker: Raymond E. Vickery Jr. is senior director of Albright Stonebridge Group and of counsel to Hogan Lovells. He served as aWilsonCenter public policy scholar in 2008-09 and has 40 years of experience withIndia.  For the past 15 years, he has been deeply involved in the strategic aspects of U.S.-India economic engagement. Several years ago he played a leading role in the passage of the U.S.-India civil nuclear deal. Earlier, he served as assistant secretary of commerce for trade development in the first Bill Clinton administration, and was given responsibility forIndia while carrying out the Commerce Department’s Big Emerging Markets initiative. Since leaving government service, he has worked for severalU.S. companies trading and investing inIndia.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Cut or Spend: What’s the Long Term Solution to America’s Budget Challenge?

This week on dialogue, host John Milewski is joined by Kathryn Lavelle and Kent Hughes to discuss the current and long term implications of the ongoing budget and debt debate in Washington. Kathryn, a former Wilson Center fellow, is the Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University. Kent is director of the Wilson Center’s program on America and the Global Economy and also of the Wilson Center on the Hill program.

For local channel listings and more information, click here.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Special Announcement: The Lee Hamilton Lecture Series on Civil Discourse and Democracy

The Woodrow Wilson Center is pleased to announce the inaugural lecture of the Lee Hamilton Lecture Series on Civil Discourse and Democracy. The featured speaker will be Admiral Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen is the highest-ranking officer in the U.S. Armed Forces and the President’s principal military adviser. He presides over all meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Joint Chiefs, advising the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

The event will be live webcast at 1:15 pm on May 25, 2011.

The Lee Hamilton Lecture Series was established in honor of Lee H. Hamilton, who served as the Woodrow Wilson Center’s President and Director from 1998 to 2010. The Hamilton Lecture Series seeks to improve continually the quality of public policy debate on major challenges facing the United States and the world.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Not Innovation, but The Innovator

When discussing innovation, Americans have largely focused on the systemic ways to foster innovation for society as a whole.  Some argue for educational changes, some argue that reform is best accomplished through our legal system, and some argue that the key to unlocking America’s innovative power lies in our tax policy.  Rather than focusing on large-scale policy prescriptions however, some have argued that we must focus on the traits of the individual innovator.

These individual innovators must not only be scientists or technology whizzes, they must be aware of and familiar with market forces as well.  According to this line of argument, the business leader and engineer must interact successfully to fully take advantage of the innovation in question.  These two fields must not be ‘siloed,’ they must interact and feed off each other.  Given that Vice President Biden just named America’s first top energy innovator, perhaps now is the best time for the individual innovators to get their time in the sun.

Posted by: Clark Taylor

Sources: Department of Energy, xconomy.com

Photo credit: A Tireless Innovator courtesy of flickr user Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Guest Contributor Sandy Pho: The State of Chinese Innovation

In January 2006, the People’s Republic of China(PRC) launched a fifteen-year “Medium- to Long-Term Plan for the Development of Science and Technology,” otherwise known as the MLP. The plan set out two ambitious goals for China. The first is for the PRC to become an “innovation-oriented society” by the year 2020, and world leader in science and technology (S&T) by 2050. Having already built the world’s largest hydroelectric dam and the fastest supercomputer and bullet train, it seems as though the Chinese are well on their way.

These engineering feats have prompted a flurry of foreboding headlines in the United States, asking questions such as “Is US Losing Innovation Race Against China and India?” or stating that the “U.S. Could Lose the SciTech Edge to China…” As the world’s second largest economy and largest holder ofU.S. debt, it is no wonder that the progress made by the PRC has garnered much attention. This piece is intended to act as a basic primer on the topic and hopefully a bridge into the broader discussion over Chinese innovation today.

China’s rapid economic growth brought with it the complementary distinctions of becoming the world’s largest consumer of energy, and its top emitter of greenhouse gases. That being the case, energy is appropriately highlighted in China’s MLP. Since the plan’s introduction in 2006,Beijing has focused a great deal of its efforts on developing more efficient and clean uses of energy, as well as on developing new energy sources.

You are Invited: Cooperation for Innovation in Agriculture and What the U.S. Can Do

Invitation to a Wilson Center on the Hill and Brazil Institute Event

Brazil and Africa: Cooperation for Innovation in Agriculture and

What the U.S. Can Do

Monday, May 16, 2011 

12:00-1:15 p.m.

B-338 Rayburn House Office Building

Brazil has been a leader in turning tropical savannah soils into productive land for agricultural development. Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, has established an office in Africa and is working with more than a dozen African countries, in partnership with developing agencies and foundations, to improve agricultural productivity and food security in the continent. Panelists will discuss the importance of agricultural innovation in Brazil and Africa and what role the U.S. can play.

Panelists include:

LADISLAU MARTIN-NETO, Embrapa

ERICK FERNANDES, Adviser, Latin America and Caribbean Region, Agriculture and Rural Development, World Bank

MARCELLA SZYMANSKI, Foreign Affairs Officer, Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Textile Trade, U.S. Department of State

Moderated by: PAULO SOTERO, Director, Brazil Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Please rsvp acceptances to onthehill@wilsoncenter.org or 202-691-4357

Wilson Center on the Hill is a nonpartisan forum that focuses on current issues related to international trade and security, sustainable development, and globalization. It sponsors 15 to 20 seminar programs each year on Capitol Hill that feature leading independent analysts and experts from the 22 programs of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Funded by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Wilson Center on the Hill also sponsors congressional study trips, allowing Members of the U.S. Congress and senior congressional staff to examine these issues first-hand.

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Event Summary: Liberal Arts at the Brink

The discussion of Victor Ferrall, Jr.’s book Liberal Arts at the Brink began with a welcome from Wilson Center President, Director, and CEO Jane Harman, a graduate of Smith College, who stressed the important role of liberal arts in American public life. As Ferrall notes in his book, students in higher education have been moving away from an undergraduate education in the liberal arts, instead opting for career-focused vocational courses of study, creating broad implications for the future of American innovation and competitiveness. Liberal Arts at the Brink seeks to analyze the current state of the liberal arts education at 225 colleges across the United States and assess its prospects for the future.

Ferrall opened the discussion by highlighting the trend towards career-focused study, even at traditional liberal arts institutions, declaring, “College students, in increasing numbers, are turning away from liberal arts education.” This trend, he said, has its roots in the 1960s, when colleges began opening their doors to students for whom college “was not the next regular step.” As mostly first-generation collegians, these individuals wanted degrees that would enhance their career prospects and increase their earning potential, a trend that has now become the norm across higher education. At the level of the federal government, according to Ferrall, the purpose of higher education promotion has been not “preparing thoughtful citizens, but rather a trained workforce.”

Ferrall went on to say that one of the major challenges facing liberal arts institutions today is finances. While top-tier schools can afford to offer almost exclusively liberal arts curricula, budgetary constraints force others to modify their offerings in order to maintain enrollment. The topic of financial aid discounting is particular concerning. “Are we selling education or buying students?” he asked.

Reminder: You are Invited – Innovation in a Global Environment

The Program on America and the Global Economy (PAGE) Presents:

P&G: Innovation in a Global Environment

Featuring: Bruce Brown, Chief Technology Officer Proctor & Gamble
Moderated by: Kent Hughes, Director, Program on America and the Global Economy, Woodrow Wilson Center

Wednesday, May 11, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, 6th Floor Boardroom, Woodrow Wilson Center

Bruce Brown is the Chief Technology Officer at Proctor & Gamble, responsible for overseeing the Company’s innovation program, its nearly $2 billion annual investment in R&D, and over 8,000 global R&D employees. He leads a global R&D organization at P&G that creates innovative products and services while building innovation capabilities, organizations, and systems to help P&G deliver its long-term organic growth goal, 70-80% of which is driven by innovation.

Bruce also directly manages the R&D Corporate Function work, R&D Corporate Governance Systems, and New Technology Platform development work. In addition, he oversees the Company’s Corporate Innovation Fund and FutureWorks organizations, both of which lead to creation of new business opportunities and capabilities for the future.
Bruce has over 30 years of business-building experience with P&G in both developed and developing markets. He has led teams in the Company’s Baby Care, Feminine Care, and Beauty Care organizations from locations in the United States, Germany, and Japan. Business Week recently included Bruce among the world’s Top 25 Masters of Innovation, in recognition of P&G’s innovation capability. He has been published in Research-Technology Management, as well as a recent supplement to Harvard Business Review.

The government of Singapore recently appointed Bruce as a member of the Board of Directors of The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Bruce also serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of MDVIP, a wholly owned subsidiary of P&G, as well as a member of the Xavier University Board of Trustees.

Bruce was born in Rockville Center, New York. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of New York with a degree in Chemical Engineering and earned an MBA from Xavier University. He and his wife, Nancy, live in Cincinnati and have three children.

Lunch will be served to participants

RSVP (acceptances only) to page@wilsoncenter.org

Posted by: PAGE Staff

Urban Centers And Innovation

In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of the world’s population will be living in urban areas.  By 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, and a US census bureau official called increased American urbanization between 2000 and 2010 “extremely significant.”  Harvard economist Edward Glaeser’s sought to describe the economic effects of this upswing in urbanization in his recent book, The Triumph of the City.  He argues that collective city living is a major driver of innovation, and will contribute substantially to economic development.  “Globalization and new technologies have increased the returns to being smart and we get smart by being around other smart people in cities.”  Glaeser sees the collaboration between creative minds in densely populated areas as a sure sign of free market growth to come.  As reporter David Stetfox points out, however, his free market analyses save little breath for social inequities and the “woolly notions of identity and belonging” particular to cities or towns.

Economists have attempted to quantify Glaeser’s theories with statistical analyses of patent data, economic growth, and population shifts.  Brian Knudsen, Richard Florida, Gary Gates, and Kevin Stolarick produced a report in 2007 that “finds a positive relationship between the density of creative workers and metropolitan patenting activity.  This suggests that density is a key component of knowledge spillovers and a key component of innovation.”  By connecting geographic concentration and resulting innovative capacity, the study shows that urban areas enable new growth by bringing together inventive minds to a creative proximity.

Responding to a need to increase innovation in rural areas as well, the OECD held a conference to address the capacity for growth outside rapidly growing cities.  Citing a brain drain, the representatives hoped to encourage a “creative class” that could exploit the innovative advantages particular to agricultural areas.  Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, concluded hopefully that “globalization can be a positive-sum game. This is true for the relationship between developed and developing countries, but also for the relationship between rural and urban regions.”

Posted by: John Coit

Sources: billingsgazette.com creativeclass.com, nytimes.com, oecd.com, thenational.ae, unfpa.org

Photo Credit: IMGP0053 – cityscape by flickr user RaeA.

You are Invited: Emissions, Ecology, and the Economy: U.S. and European Perspectives on Waste Management

The Environmental Change and Security Program and

the Program on America and the Global Economy present:

Emissions, Ecology, and the Economy: U.S. and European Perspectives on Waste Management

Christian Egenhofer, Centre for European Policy (Brussels)
Jochen Flasbarth, President, Federal Environment Agency (Germany)
Suzanne Rudzinski, Office Director, Resource Conservation and Recovery, Environmental Protection Agency
Lori Scozzafava, Deputy Executive Director, Solid Waste Association of North America
Karen Stiles, Business Development Manager, Sustainable Services, Waste Management

Ecological waste management has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Germany has already proven that significant energy and costs can be saved by replacing the practice of landfilling untreated municipal waste with energy efficient treatment techniques and by separating the collection and use of recyclable materials.

Please join us for a discussion by European and US experts to showcase the greening of the waste management sector.

This event is part of the “Transatlantic Climate Bridge”, an initiative launched by the German government in 2008 to foster transatlantic cooperation and partnerships between Germany and the U.S. in the climate and energy area at the local, state and federal level

Wednesday, May 11, 12:00 – 2:00 pm 5th floor conference room 

Lunch will be provided

rsvp to page@wilsoncenter.org

Posted by: PAGE Staff