17.910, 3 credits (if taken for credit)

Contact: Erik Tillman, etillman@mit.edu
Application deadline is Friday, December 12, 2014
Organized by the MIT Science Policy Initiative: http://web.mit.edu/spi 

The 2015 Science and Technology Policy Bootcamp will be held Tuesday, January 20, 2015 to Friday, January 23, 2015, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm (M-R), 9:00 am - 12:00 pm (F).

Science and technology public policy shapes the education, research, and innovation system that is vital for economic growth and improvements in societal well-being. This four-day seminar, taught by MIT Washington, D.C. Office Director Bill Bonvillian, will examine the policy decisions behind, and the government’s role in the science and technology based innovation system. Given the challenges to future federal science support, this seminar will also aim to equip those planning careers in and around science and technology with the basic background for involvement in science policy-making. Undergraduate and graduate students from all faculties are welcome.

Topics discussed will include:
-  The drivers behind science and technology support:  growth economics, direct and indirect innovation factors, innovation systems theory, the “valley of death” between R&D and public-private partnership models;
-  The organizing framework behind US science agencies, their missions and research organizational models, and the DARPA model as an alternative;
-  The way innovation is organized when it’s face-to-face, including rulesets for great innovation teams;
-  The barriers and challenges to health science advance;
-  The energy technology challenge – how the science/tech innovation system needs to be organized to meet it within an existing and established complex economic sector.
- The upcoming competitiveness challenge in advanced manufacturing.

The course will consist of lectures, readings, and discussions Tuesday through Thursday, and a panel on MIT's climate change conversation Friday morning. Lunch will be provided Tuesday-Thursday. This course will be offered both for credit and not for credit. Credit will be based on class participation and a short paper. Those participating in the MIT Graduate Certificate Program in Science, Technology, and Policy ( http://web.mit.edu/stp ) will be required to take this course for credit.

All students taking the course for credit must indicate their intent prior to the start of the course. They will be required to submit a 4 page, single-spaced paper on an innovation group related to class #3 on innovation at the face-to-face level. The paper will be due in February.

Accepted students MUST commit to attend all sessions to earn a spot in the class. Class participants will have the opportunity to apply what they learn by participating in the MIT Science Policy Initiative (SPI) Congressional Visit Days in Washington, D.C. in April 2015.

Enrollment is limited. Please fill in the short form below with 200 words or less on why you are interested in the course. Priority will be given to those enrolled in the STP certificate.