Title：Making Science and Technology Policy at the White House
Speaker：David M. Hart , Acting Senior Associate Dean of the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University
Former Assistant Director for Innovation Policy,White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
Moderator: Prof. XUE Lan, Dean of School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Venue: Room 302, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Time: 15:30-17:00, October 21, Tuesday
Language: English
Abstract：
This paper argues in favor of four criteria for assessing the performance of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) within the Executive Office of the U.S. President: trying to killing bad ideas (and sometimes succeeding), mobilizing expertise and confidence to support crisis response, identifying new issues and developing presidential policy initiatives, and catalyzing and coordinating multi-agency science and technology activities, especially in response to Presidential goals. These criteria are illustrated with episodes from OSTP’s history. They place OSTP in a variety of roles, ranging from disinterested broker of expertise to policy entrepreneur, but always as an agent of the President. Although a full assessment using these criteria may not be feasible due to data limitations, their identification is nonetheless valuable in order to spark scholarly debate and further research and to support planning by OSTP staff and their interlocutors inside and outside of government.
Bio of Speaker：
David M. Hart is Acting Senior Associate Dean of the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University. He also serves as Professor and Director of the Center for Science and Technology Policy. Professor Hart served as assistant director for innovation policy, with a focus on advanced manufacturing, at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President, from July 2011 to August 2012.Hart’s recent academic work focuses high-growth entrepreneurship, high-skill migration, and energy innovation. His books include Unlocking Energy Innovation (MIT Press, co-authored with Richard K. Lester), The Emergence of Entrepreneurship Policy (Cambridge University Press), and Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the U.S., 1929-1953 (Princeton University Press).
