Where Science Meets Foreign Policy
03/11/11 13:50 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Submitted by S. Pelech - Kinexus on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 13:50.
In recent times, government organizations in numerous countries have designated significant funding to support scientific research with specific partnering countries to induce collaborations. In Canada, this has included a few undertakings with China such as the China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiative. While at first blush, such "new" support for research might be most welcome, in reality, it is usually at the expense of funding for other research programs that are less politically-motivated. Effective collaborations arise from the congruent interests of scientists throughout the world, and geography is not really a barrier except when politics intervenes. The free flow of ideas and knowledge between interacting scientists has probably been one of the major drivers of economic development and human welfare in the last century. With genuine concerns about the human condition and the environment that transcend nationalism, scientists have played a major role in improving human health and prosperity and flagging practices that are harmful.
The status quo in the world with respect to scientific discovery and its applications is nonetheless markedly changing. North American and European dominance in the global research community is declining, not so much because they are investing that much less in research, but because countries in other parts of the world, notably in Asia, are spending much more than before. In the end, most people regardless of their country will benefit.
There is, however, a clear reduction in the personnel engaged in biomedical research in industry in North America and Europe. Almost every week in the last couple of years there have been reports of significant layoffs of staff in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. With parallel erosion in government grant-funded academic research, the prospects for scientists in these continents will become more dubious if these trends continue. Rather than brain drains, for example, from China and India to North America as occurred in the previous century. we shall observe the reverse. Scientists have always had to be rather mobile to ensure active careers in their chosen fields.
China is working very hard to increase its scientific prowess. It will probably emerge as a world leading scientific powerhouse in relatively short order. This is being achieved in part through their extensive study of the activities of researchers in other countries. At Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation, we are able to track visitations to our corporate and scientific websites, and the Chinese lead the pack. However, with over 1400 clients from over 33 countries world-wide, only a couple of our customers are actually from China. Part of the problem appears to stem from the Chinese government policies to restrict the amount of foreign scientific services that their scientists can access with grant funding. In addition, due to Chinese government restrictions, it is very difficult to send human clinical material out of China.
Another interesting strategy that the Chinese have taken to download pre-publication information from the international scientific community is to aggressively invite foreign scientists as speakers at scientific conferences in major cities in China. Sometimes the titles and topics of these conferences are quite amusing. I receive such invitations to speak at Chinese meetings almost every day. However, invitees are ultimately expected to cover all of their own travel and accommodation expenses. While I am personally committed to sharing my research findings openly and world-wide, I am just not inclined to travel to the other side of the planet at my own expense to give it away. Then again, one day I might just end up like several of my compatriots working at a job in China.
Link to the original blog post.
In recent times, government organizations in numerous countries have designated significant funding to support scientific research with specific partnering countries to induce collaborations. In Canada, this has included a few undertakings with China such as the China-Canada Joint Health Research Initiative. While at first blush, such "new" support for research might be most welcome, in reality, it is usually at the expense of funding for other research programs that are less politically-motivated. Effective collaborations arise from the congruent interests of scientists throughout the world, and geography is not really a barrier except when politics intervenes. The free flow of ideas and knowledge between interacting scientists has probably been one of the major drivers of economic development and human welfare in the last century. With genuine concerns about the human condition and the environment that transcend nationalism, scientists have played a major role in improving human health and prosperity and flagging practices that are harmful.
The status quo in the world with respect to scientific discovery and its applications is nonetheless markedly changing. North American and European dominance in the global research community is declining, not so much because they are investing that much less in research, but because countries in other parts of the world, notably in Asia, are spending much more than before. In the end, most people regardless of their country will benefit.
There is, however, a clear reduction in the personnel engaged in biomedical research in industry in North America and Europe. Almost every week in the last couple of years there have been reports of significant layoffs of staff in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. With parallel erosion in government grant-funded academic research, the prospects for scientists in these continents will become more dubious if these trends continue. Rather than brain drains, for example, from China and India to North America as occurred in the previous century. we shall observe the reverse. Scientists have always had to be rather mobile to ensure active careers in their chosen fields.
China is working very hard to increase its scientific prowess. It will probably emerge as a world leading scientific powerhouse in relatively short order. This is being achieved in part through their extensive study of the activities of researchers in other countries. At Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation, we are able to track visitations to our corporate and scientific websites, and the Chinese lead the pack. However, with over 1400 clients from over 33 countries world-wide, only a couple of our customers are actually from China. Part of the problem appears to stem from the Chinese government policies to restrict the amount of foreign scientific services that their scientists can access with grant funding. In addition, due to Chinese government restrictions, it is very difficult to send human clinical material out of China.
Another interesting strategy that the Chinese have taken to download pre-publication information from the international scientific community is to aggressively invite foreign scientists as speakers at scientific conferences in major cities in China. Sometimes the titles and topics of these conferences are quite amusing. I receive such invitations to speak at Chinese meetings almost every day. However, invitees are ultimately expected to cover all of their own travel and accommodation expenses. While I am personally committed to sharing my research findings openly and world-wide, I am just not inclined to travel to the other side of the planet at my own expense to give it away. Then again, one day I might just end up like several of my compatriots working at a job in China.
Link to the original blog post.