For close to 10,000 years, science and technology have been at the
heart of economic growth and social prosperity. From the agricultural
revolution to the information revolution, advances in society have been
underpinned by new discoveries and their innovative use in new products
and processes.
Modern society was enabled by the invention of
agriculture, freeing people from a hunter-gatherer existence and
allowing the development of stable communities that supported further
social and technological innovation.
The invention of the Spinning Jenny
250 years ago vastly increased the speed with which cotton could be
turned into yarn, revolutionizing the textile industry and helping usher
in the industrial revolution. The discovery of penicillin in the early
1900s allowed previously fatal infections to be treated, opening the
door to modern surgical procedures.
In the mid-20th century, the
invention and subsequent development of the transistor initiated a
technology revolution that is still driving economic and social growth.
More
recently, innovations in global communication, social networking and
information processing have begun to empower global communities in ways
unimaginable a few years ago. Yet the continued effectiveness of science
and technology as engines of economic and social growth is not
guaranteed.
The global economic and social landscape is evolving
rapidly and, as it does, the rules governing how we use science and
technology are changing. A growing global population coupled with a
widespread desire for a first-world quality of life is placing
unprecedented demands on resources around the world.
Humanity’s
actions are becoming uniquely intertwined in environmental reactions,
redefining our relationship with the planet on which we live and depend.
Modern communications are making a mockery of geographical and
institutional boundaries that have endured for hundreds and even
thousands of years.
This emerging landscape places new demands on
technology innovation; but it also demands radical changes in how
technology innovation is nurtured and implemented if it is to underpin a
sustainable future.
Recent
attempts to introduce genetically modified foods into commerce in
Europe provide a sobering lesson in how easy it is to mishandle
technology innovation. Despite little evidence to the contrary, apparent
concerns over health and environmental impacts severely retarded the
implementation of a technology that could improve millions of lives.
Yet
these concerns were grounded in part in a backlash against corporate
control that cut consumers out of the decision-making process. Through a
socially savvy media, people and governments were galvanized to say no
to “frankenfoods” – not because of the science and technology per se,
but because of the way they were handled. Missteps over the development
of genetically modified foods are a prominent case among many where the
trajectory of a technology has been dictated more by social concerns
than by scientific evidence. It is increasingly clear that top-down
decision-making is not sufficient on its own to ensure the successful
development of socially and economically relevant technologies.
With
modern peer-to-peer global communications, virtual groups can be
informed about, motivated by and empowered to take action on emerging
issues before institutional decision-makers are even aware there is an
issue to respond to. We now live in a world where an incident in China
or the Middle East can influence attitudes and actions in regions as
distant as Europe and the Americas in a matter of minutes through media
like YouTube and Twitter.
At the same time, technology innovation
is no longer dominated by a top-down approach. We are in the midst of a
shift from innovation occurring as a result of a directed programme at
large institutions like Bell Labs, Bayer or IBM
to a world where a college student can create Facebook, Do-It-Yourself
biotechnology has a growing following,1 and work that used to require a
lab full of people and equipment can now be done on a laptop.
With
this shift, it is easier for technologies to be deployed before most
governments are aware of their potential. The constant war against
synthetic drugs and legal highs is a case in point: as soon as a
government legislates against one substance, a chemist can move a
hydrogen atom and create a new one that slips through the oversight net.
As technologies like nanotechnology, computational chemistry and
synthetic biology continue to mature, top-down oversight will become
increasingly difficult to implement. Ensuring that technology innovation
serves the emerging challenges facing global society will depend on far
more than understanding evolving social dynamics. Under the triple
drivers of globalization, unsustainable resource demands and increasing
environmental impacts, a full recalibration of technology’s role in
addressing global economic, political and social challenges is needed.
Providing
people with access to healthy food and clean water; managing climate
change and its impacts; treating disease; generating and using energy
wisely; working with diminishing natural resources; coping with pollution
– over the next 50 years, global challenges in these and similar areas
will reach unprecedented levels. Without rapid and targeted advances in
science and technology, humanity will be unable to face them without
paying an unacceptable price. We need the tools that science and
technology provide to build a sustainable future.
Many
of these tools are waiting in the wings. Emerging areas such as
nanotechnology, synthetic biology, information technology, robotics,
neuroscience and others are paving the way for socially and economically
important technology innovations. Yet there is a gaping chasm between
the knowledge being generated and the understanding of how to use it
most effectively. This chasm is widened by the disparity between the
economies that are predominantly driving technology innovation and those
that are most in need of what it can deliver. As new technologies
emerge, it is clear that we can no longer rely on 20th century policies
to deliver 21st century solutions. Neither can we assume that emerging
technologies – which often take decades to mature – will provide
just-in-time solutions to just-identified problems. Rather, we need to
rethink how society can continue to reap the benefits of technology
innovation without suffering the consequences of missed opportunities
and mishandled interventions.
Past policies have relied on
upstream investment in exploratory science to deliver downstream
technologies. It is a model that has worked well in the past, but is
looking increasingly flimsy in today’s interconnected world. More
significantly, it is a model that absolves decision-makers of taking a
handson approach to science and technology – it reinforces the attitude
that technology innovation is somebody else’s business, and the myth
that technology “just happens”.
But for technology innovation to
be effective in today’s world, decision-makers at all levels – from
policymakers to consumers – need a firmer grasp of how science and
technology work. They need the knowledge, understanding and tools to
foster timely and relevant technology innovation, and to most
effectively exploit this innovation. In effect, as conventional top-down
approaches to technology innovation become increasingly ineffective,
technology innovation needs to become everybody’s business.
SOURCE: A report from the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies
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