Excerpt of Introduction
Research for the Global Good
By Meg Thornton for Daniel D. Watch, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Principal of Perkins & Will
The scientific process has been turned on its head. Forget the image of the lone scientist toiling away in isolation. Today, science is collaborative on a global scale. Alliances are multinational and strategic, yet competition is fierce and speed is all-important.
The scientific workforce is globalizing as well. Whereas the U.S. enjoyed scientific dominance in the 20th century, there is a trend for young scientists to study in the U.S. and then return to their homelands. Countries, recognizing the growing value of this human capital, are beefing up incentives and increasingly attracting non-native scientists to their growing job markets.
To compete in the global science market, collaboration is critical. In “The World Is Flat,” Thomas Freidman reinforced the economic impact of shared knowledge when he wrote, “… flattening of the world means that we are now connecting all the knowledge centers on the planet together into a single global network … .”
International collaboration is credited for the wildly successful Human Genome Project, which mapped 99.9 percent the DNA code and which gave rise to the exciting new field of proteomics. Research groups from various countries worked together to complete – ahead of schedule – the sequencing of the DNA model. That rich databank of scientific information is now available on the Internet for anyone to access.
International Collaboration
Collaboration is a defining trend of the early 21st century, and nowhere is it more evident than in science. Technology has given rise to international collaboration. Freely shared knowledge is quickening the pace of advances in science, and problems are being addressed with a worldview of cooperation. “International research collaboration is a rapidly growing component of core research activity for all countries,” reports the United Kingdom’s Office of Science and Innovation. “It enables researchers to participate in networks of cutting-edge and innovative activity and provides opportunities to move further and faster by working with other leading people in their field.”
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