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The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States.
The Belfer Center is the center for Harvard Kennedy School’s research and policy outreach on international affairs, science, and technology. In 2021, the Belfer Center was named a «Center of Excellence» by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, in recognition of the sixth consecutive year that the Center is the world’s number one university-affiliated think tank.
The Center is engaged in research, teaching, and training in areas such as international security, diplomacy, environmental resources, and science and technology policy. Its mission is to provide leadership in advancing knowledge on the most important challenges of international security and other critical issues where science, technology, environmental policy, and international affairs intersect.
The Center was founded in 1973 by biochemist Paul M. Doty, who was concerned about the tense relations between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfer_Center_for_Science_and_International_Affairs
THE PROGRAM ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT AND GLOBAL POLICY
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School last week launched a new Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy. The Program will address policy challenges that arise at the intersection of technology and geopolitics and train the next generation of leaders to be fluent in the domains of technology and politics.
Meghan L. O’Sullivan, who is the director of the Center stated that: «Technology has never been more central to geopolitics than today. Rapid innovation is changing the way we talk about everything from war to clean energy. Technology lies at the heart of the competition between the United States and China, the aspirations of countries in the Global South, and much more.»
The management of the Center
The effort to launch this program will be led by Michael McQuade, who with his special knowledge and science through his experience in the private sector and academia will lead this exciting program that combines technology and policy to rigorously address some of the most important global challenges we face today.
Michael McQuade was previously vice president for research and special advisor to the president at Carnegie Mellon University, where he provided operational leadership and strategic direction for the university’s research initiative and championed the role that science, technology, and innovation play in national security and economic competitiveness. Prior to this role, he was senior vice president for science and technology at United Technologies Corporation; led the medical products division of 3M’s global healthcare portfolio; and also serves as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Council, and the Defense Innovation Council.
Program Mission
As stated by Michale McQuade: “The mission of the Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy Program is twofold.” “Our goal is to provide critical contributions to policy debates on how best to harness the benefits of new technologies while managing the extreme risks of these advances – from artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology innovation to governance and national security management. We will also train a new generation of young, tech-savvy leaders so they can, with confidence, shape the world of the future.”
Program Content
The program focuses on challenges including:
- Balancing security and innovation in technological competition in the U.S., as emerging technology will shape the landscape facing policymakers and the tools with which they make and evaluate policy decisions;
- The international governance of technologies such as AI and bioengineering that are evolving faster than traditional policy methods can respond;
- The geopolitical implications of clean energy technologies; and – Balancing international scientific cooperation and competition in a multipolar world.
The program will issue frequent reports and hold regular events, drawing on expertise from the academic, government, and private sectors in the Boston-Cambridge area and beyond.
Participants in the presentation
The new dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, Mr. Jeremy Weinstein, opened the launch event with these words: “It is vitally important that the Harvard Kennedy School becomes a place where we can bridge the gap between Silicon Valley and Washington, DC.” “We need to think about technology and government policy from a variety of angles, and create an environment where voices from academia, government, and the private sector come together – the new Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy will address this need. “Delivering real-time policy solutions has always been something that has characterized the Belfer Center, and I am pleased that this will continue with this new program.”
Stephanie Carter, who is a member of the Belfer Center’s International Council and wife of the late Ashton B. Carter, also gave a speech at the launch. “Carter exemplified the nexus of technology and policy in his service as director of the Belfer Center, a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School, and U.S. Secretary of Defense.”
“The Belfer Center was Ash’s intellectual home for most of his life,” said Stephanie Carter. “This new program makes perfect sense because the Belfer Center has always tackled difficult problems with insight, inclusion, and real-world solutions. This program will pick up the thread of work that animated the last years of Ash’s life, asking the crucial question: How do we harness the opportunities that technology offers for our citizens while protecting ourselves from its risks?”
The Belfer Center is a reference center that combines the scientific and technological knowledge of scientists and technologists with political knowledge in order to provide responses to new geopolitical scenarios and challenges arising from emerging technologies through appropriate Global Governance.
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Announces a New Project on Middle Powers
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has launched a new research project this month, investigating how «middle powers» are navigating and shaping an international landscape marked by competition between the United States and China. The project, in collaboration with the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, includes 15 scholars from around the world who are examining 13 countries across Africa, Eurasia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
The Middle Powers Project will be co-directed by Meghan L. O’Sullivan, Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), and Rana Mitter, holder of the S.T. Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at HKS. Anthony Saich, Director of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs at HKS, and Edward Cunningham, Director of China Programs at the Ash Center, Director of the Asia Energy and Sustainability Initiative, and Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at HKS, are also key pillars of the effort as project leaders at the Ash Center. Another key member of the project’s leadership team is Moeed Yusuf, a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center who serves as Vice Chancellor of Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan, and was formerly Pakistan’s National Security Adviser.
“One of the defining features of this era of geopolitics is the prominence and influence of countries often referred to as ‘middle powers,’” said Meghan L. O’Sullivan. “Countries ranging from India and Indonesia to Nigeria and Brazil are seeking to pursue their interests with great care amidst a rapidly changing international order. Their policy decisions are critical to the competition between the United States and China, and to international efforts to address technological advancements, the energy transition, and much more. I am excited to work with colleagues from around the world on our new research project, bringing diverse perspectives and deep expertise to address this vital issue.”
“Both China and the United States are eager to create new partnerships and connections in the world’s emerging markets and societies,” said Rana Mitter. “Both are discovering that the world’s ‘middle powers’ have their own agenda when it comes to security, economics, and values, culture, and ideology. This project is particularly compelling because it highlights how great power competition is viewed from places as diverse as Abuja, Jakarta, Hanoi, and Cairo. I am excited to discover, by working with brilliant analysts from the middle powers, what the world will look like in the 2030s as geopolitics is reconfigured around us.”
“In an increasingly tense standoff between the United States and China, how other nations seek to promote their own national interests is a key challenge,” said Anthony Saich. “At the Rajawali Institute, we are delighted to collaborate with the Belfer Center to investigate these challenges and seek solutions.”
“In the context of great power competition, ‘middle powers’ are charting their own course,” said Edward Cunningham. “We are excited to join forces with our colleagues at the Belfer Center and globally to examine how these nations are seeking strategic autonomy, particularly in Asia. These national decisions are fundamentally transforming our world in ways we are only beginning to understand and must better comprehend.”
The project will produce country case studies and findings on global issues that are shaping and being shaped by middle powers. The project’s results, including reports, online articles, and events, will be presented starting in 2025.
The countries and authors participating in the project are: Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
Read more about the launch of the «Middle Powers Project»:
https://www.belfercenter.org/belfer-news/belfer-center-science-and-international-affairs-announces-new-middle-powers-project
