Study Group: Government furthers knowledge – business makes it useful

Description

Meeting Method:
In-Person

IOP Fall 2017 Residential Fellow Sally Jewell

Tuesday October 17, 2017; 4:15-5:45pm

Guest speaker: Mary Glackin, Director, Science and Forecast Operations, The Weather Company, an IBM Business, and former U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for NOAA Operations.

For decades, U.S. government investment in basic research and a commitment to sharing data has provided the building blocks for business success, economic growth, improved living standards, and leadership on the world stage.  We take for granted having “Google Earth” at our fingertips, yet may not recognize that the data largely comes from the Landsat satellite, created by the USGS, launched by NASA, and provided to the world.  We daily look at The Weather Channel and other smartphone apps to plan our days without appreciating that the data feed comes from NOAA’s National Weather Service and government investments in meteorology.  We don’t know that the innovation we enjoy in our outdoor gear – waterproof, breathable clothing, water filtration pumps, or efficient stoves – leveraged innovations by DARPA for serving our military.  And we take medications or get vaccines to stay healthy without thinking about the basic biomedical research funded by NIH that created the fundamental building blocks needed for these inventions.  Our guest from the technology sector will illustrate how they have leveraged government data to drive business performance and customer satisfaction and we will discuss how government and industry can do a better job of helping the public understand the importance of investing in basic research and open data.