Measuring the Impacts of Federal Investments in Research
April 18-19, 2011
20 F Street N.W. Conference Center
Washington, D.C. 20001
APRIL 18, 2011
7: 30 AM Registration
8: 15 AM Introductions, and Workshop Objectives
Neal Lane, Co-Chair; University Professor, Rice University
Bronwyn Hall, Co-Chair; Professor, University of California, Berkeley and University of Maastricht
8:30 AM Welcome Address: The Honorable Rush Holt (D-NJ), U.S. House of Representatives
Introduced by: Neal Lane, Co-Chair
8:45 AM Session I: Promise and Limits of Measuring the Impact of Federally Supported Research
What have we learned from previous efforts to measure the economic impact of federal research investments? What approaches and metrics are
more and less promising? What are the noneconomic factors that could be used as alternative measures of the impact of federal research?1
Moderator: Alfred Spector, Vice-President, Google, Inc.
Commissioned Paper Presentation: Irwin Feller, Professor Emeritus, Economics, Pennsylvania State University
Commentator: Daniel Sarewitz, Professor of Science and Society, Arizona State University
9: 30 AM Discussion
10:00 AM Break
10:15 AM Session II: Aggregate Impact of Federally-Supported Research on the U.S. Economy and Quality of Life
What do we know about or how could we determine the contributions of public research to: GDP and productivity? Wages and employment? Private sector R and D and innovation? Is there any basis for setting a target for aggregate research expenditures?
Moderator: Bronwyn Hall, Co-Chair
Panelists:
Carol Corrado, Senior Advisor and Research Director in Economics, The Conference Board
Bruce Weinberg, Professor of Economics and Public Administration, Ohio State University
Michael Roach, Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina
11:15 AM Discussion
11:45 AM Lunch Break
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1 The questions listed for each session of the workshop were intended to stimulate thought and discussion. It was not expected that presenters would address all of these questions nor that the session as a whole would provide the answers.
12:30 PM Session III: Funding and Impact of Biomedical and Health Research
What are the links between publicly funded research, biomedical innovation, and health outcomes and costs? Are there metrics that could help policymakers strengthen those linkages? What have we learned about the effects of fluctuations in the National Institutes of Health funding over the past decade and how to manage future funding changes? How do private firms and philanthropic organizations gauge the results of their health-related research investments?
Moderator: Neal Lane, Co-Chair
Commissioned Paper Presentation: Bhaven Sampat, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Columbia University
Panelists:
Richard Freeman, Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics, Harvard University
Paul Citron, Retired Vice-President, Technology Policy and Academic Relations, Medtronic, Inc
Laura Guay, Vice-President of Research, The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
2: 00 PM Discussion
2:30 PM Break
2:45 PM Session IV: International Perspectives on Assessing Research Impacts
What progress has been made abroad in tracking and assessing public research outcomes? What methods and metrics might be applicable in the United States? What features of national research systems make it easier or more difficult to transfer methodologies?
Moderated by: Bronwyn Hall, Co-Chair
Panelists:
Ian Viney, Head of Evaluation, Strategy Group, Medical Research Council, United Kingdom
Brian Sloan, Directorate-General, Research and Innovation, European Commission
Marcio de Miranda Santos, Executive Director, Centre for Strategic Management and Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation, Brazil
4:00 PM Session V: Assessing Mixed Market and Non-Market Impacts of Research
Can we measure the less-quantifiable benefits of research such as on climate change mitigation, food security, environmental protection, and national security? What are the alternative approaches for better assessing the non-market impacts of research? How do private firms and foundations measure the results of their research investments related to public goods?
Moderator: Catherine Woteki, Under Secretary for Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Panelists:
Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (by phone)
Richard Broglie, Director of Research Strategy, DuPont Agricultural Biotechnology
Michael Roberts, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University
Richard Van Atta, Senior Research Analyst, Science and Technology Policy Institute
5:00 PM Discussion
5:30 PM Poster Session
Presented by AAAS FIRE (Federal Innovation, Research, and Evaluation Affinity Group)
Mary Elizabeth Hughes, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Understanding High Risk, High-Reward Research Programs
Tiffany Sargent, National Science Foundation, Analytics for Managing Industrial and Government Portfolio Decisions
Amber Baum, National Science Foundation, The National Science Foundation’s FY 2011 Performance Plan
Sapun Parekh, National Science Foundation, Flexible Portfolio Analysis of Fundamental Science and Engineering Research
Rebecca Rosen, National Institutes of Health, A Tool for Tracing, Understanding, and Visualizing NIH Contributions to Therapeutics Development
Kerry Hamilton, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Drinking Water Research Drivers and Future Directions
APRIL 19, 2011
8: 00 AM Registration
8:20 AM Welcome and Summary of First Day
Neal Lane, Co-Chair
Bronwyn Hall, Co-Chair
8: 30 AM Session VI: Impact of Research and Research Funding on the Labor Market and Career Development of STEM Professionals
How can better data and analysis on federal research spending be used to help the labor market function more efficiently? Is there a mismatch between the modes of funding graduate education and early career training and the labor market for STEM graduates? What kinds of data do we need to understand career preferences, career options, and career tracks especially in interdisciplinary fields?
Moderator: Paula Stephan, Professor of Economics, Georgia State University
Panelists:
Anthony Carnevale, Director, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Henry Sauermann, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, Georgia Institute of Technology
James Evans, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
9: 30 AM Discussion
10:00 AM Session VII: Emerging Metrics and Models for Assessing Research Impacts
What will it take to construct a long-term, comprehensive, disaggregated data infrastructure? Which challenges need the most attention? How can new approaches such as the STAR Metrics be improved and broadened to encompass different research programs, projects, performers, and funding mechanisms? How can advances in data presentation and visualization help policymakers better understand and use the analysis?
Moderator: David Goldston, Director of Governmental Affairs, Natural Resources Defense Council
Panelists:
Julia Lane, Program Director, Science of Science and Innovation Policy Program, National Science Foundation
Stefano Bertuzzi, Health Science Policy Analyst, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health
Ian Foster, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Computer Science, and Chan Soon-Shiong Scholar, University of Chicago
Lynne Zucker, Professor of Sociology and Policy Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Adam Jaffe, Dean of Arts and Sciences and Fred C. Hecht Professor in Economics, Brandeis University
John Stasko, Professor and Associate Chair, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
11: 30 AM Discussion
12:00 PM Keynote Address: Subra Suresh, Director, National Science Foundation
Introduced by: Michael Turner, Rauner Distinguished Service Professor and Director, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
12:30 PM Lunch Break
1: 00 PM Session VIII: Impacts of Research on Decision-Making and Public Behavior
What is known about the impact of research on legislative, regulatory, and judicial decision-making? What do we know about the pathways by which advances in research eventually come to influence public behavior? Are there ways to enhance the effectiveness of these linkages?
Moderator: Eric Ward, President, The Two Blades Foundation
Panelists:
Kai Lee, Program Officer, Conservation and Science Program, David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Will Friedman, President, Public Agenda
Garry Neil, Corporate Vice President, Johnson and Johnson
2:30 PM Discussion
3:00 PM Session IX: Roundup Panel—Pitfalls, Progress, and Opportunities
Co-Moderators: Neal Lane and Bronwyn Hall, Co-Chairs
Panelists:
Alfred Spector, Vice-President, Google, Inc.
Eric Ward, President, The Two Blades Foundation
Paula Stephan, Professor of Economics, Georgia State University
David Goldston, Director of Governmental Affairs, Natural Resources Defense Council
Michael Turner, Rauner Distinguished Service Professor and Director, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago
4:00 PM Adjourn
