The post-scientific society

A seminar at KTH with Professor Christopher T. Hill, George Mason University

May 28 at 13:15-14:30 in Hall E2, Lindstedtsvägen 3, KTH Campus

In a frequently cited paper (http://www.issues.org/24.2/forum.html) Christopher T. Hill stated that innovation-based wealth in the United States gradually is arising from something other than organized research in science and engineering. This post-scientific society will have several key characteristics, the most important of which is that innovation leading to wealth generation and productivity growth will be based principally not on world leadership in fundamental research in the natural sciences and engineering, but on world-leading mastery of the creative powers of, and the basic sciences of, individual human beings, their societies, and their cultures. The leading edge of innovation in the post-scientific society, whether for business, industrial, consumer, or public purposes, will move from the workshop, the laboratory, and the office to the studio, the think tank, the atelier, and cyberspace.

Professor Hill’s primary interests are in the history, design, evaluation, and politics of federal policies and programs intended to stimulate technological innovation in the commercial marketplace. From 1997 to 2005, he served as Vice Provost for Research at George Mason. He has held senior positions at the RAND Corporation, the National Academies, the Congressional Research Service, MIT and the Office of Technology Assessment. His extensive consulting includes work over the last decade with Japanese government agencies regarding reform of Japan’s national R&D, higher education, and human resource development systems.

Detta seminarium är ett av Fakultetens kvalitetsseminarier. Bakom dem står både Fakultetsnämnden, som har det övergripande akademiska ansvaret för KTHs utbildning och forskning, och Fakultetskollegiet, som är ett oberoende organ för KTH-gemensamma frågor med valda representanter för KTHs ca 900 lärare.