The Silicon Valley Innovation System: History and Outlook
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
A non-governmental organization co-run by FSE graduate student Rodrigo Pizzaro has won a Tech Museum award in recognition of its "innovative work benefiting humanity". The NGO, Fundacion Terram, is an integrated salmon-seaweed cultivation project based in Santiago, Chile which attaches algae to a salmon-net pen to absorb nutrients from the salmon to clean the environment. This technology reduces the demand for natural seaweed using an environmentally and socially integrated approach. "The Tech Awards are an incredible honor, recognizing individuals and organizations whose ideas and execution of those ideas are changing the world", said Rodrigo Pizarro, ex Terram CEO and current IPER grad student, and leader of the project team. "We are proud to be among those recognized for their contributions, and will continue to develop solutions that improve the overall well being of people worldwide."
Sponsored by The Tech Museum of Innovation, one of the country's premier science and technology museums, and presented by Applied Materials, Inc., The Tech Museum Awards honor individuals who are applying technology to benefit humanity and spark global change. Fundacion Terram was selected from hundreds of nominations sent from 68 countries. "The Tech Awards are an opportunity to showcase how technology and innovation are addressing global challenges", said Peter Friess, President of The Tech. Fundacion Terram has made remarkable contributions toward significantly improving the human condition.
The President of the Basque Autonomous Community will discuss his "Road Map to bring an end to the Basque Conflict," including his offer of a political agreement already made to Madrid, based on a rejection of violence and an embrace of democratic principles and a Basque society plebiscite.
Synopsis
In a visit marked by controversy and protesting, President Ibarretxe clearly delivers his view on how the Basque country can establish sustainable human development. President Ibarretxe quickly stresses, however, that two challenges stand in the way of this goal. The first is securing peace from the violence of ETA, and the second is attaining political normalization through agreement with Spain. Citing dialogue as key, he explains that this conflict, lasting since the 19th century, must be resolved through political and democratic means based on the principle of self-determination. President Ibarretxe sets out the history of the Basque people, possibly the oldest in Europe, while revealing its openness to universal art and culture, as well as the Basque region’s top level social welfare. The Basque country, which has been ranked third in the UN’s Human Development Index, places emphasis on identity and innovation in striving forward. President Ibarretxe explains that 30 years after the 1979 Basque statute of autonomy, a clear majority demand a new framework for relations with Spain.
Therefore, President Ibarretxe reveals the “roadmap” he has formulated for the Basque country to achieve political normalization, as he puts it. His approach begins with four preliminary considerations. The first consideration is that the problems of the violence of ETA should not be confused with the political conflict between the Basque government and Spain. Secondly, President Ibarretxe argues that a key prerequisite to any solution is that the violence of ETA ceases immediately regardless of the state of the political conflict. Thirdly, stressing the importance of a necessary maxim to be used as a point of reference in the struggle for justice, President Ibarretxe emphasizes the defense of human rights without exception as fundamental to success. The fourth consideration that President Ibarretxe puts forward is that the right to self-determination is central to adopting a solution.
However, President Ibarretxe’s “roadmap” also offers concrete action through five specific steps. The five-step process begins with an offer of a political agreement based on ethics and democracy to Spain, something which President Ibarretxe has already extended to the Spanish government. Subsequently, President Ibarretxe offers a plenary session of the Basque parliament to either ratify any agreement reached with the Spanish government and call for a popular vote for Basque society to ratify the agreement as well or call for a popular vote to break a deadlock in the negotiation process. After the popular vote, President Ibarretxe reveals further negotiations will follow to end the violence of ETA and establish a new framework for Basque political parties to work under. Finally, President Ibarretxe offers a referendum in 2010 for the Basque people to vote on the result of this process. In concluding his talk, President Ibarretxe calls for any steps forward to be centered around “dialogue, democratic respect, and the liberty to decide.”
President Ibarretxe kindly takes the time to answer numerous questions on a variety of challenging issues. This question-and-answer session, where the questions are asked in English and President Ibarretxe replies in Spanish, is included in the recording. Unfortunately however, the translation of President Ibarretxe's responses cannot really be heard.
Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center
The Third Annual Globalization of Services Conference will explore the following questions:
All participants will receive a copy of Dr. Dossani's newest book India Arriving: How this Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business. Details of this can be found through the link below. Provided through the generosity of Arada Systems.
Details about the previous two events can be found at:
The Second Annual Globalization of Services Conference
Conference Sponsors:
Bechtel Conference Center
Martha Crenshaw (speaker) is a senior fellow at CISAC and FSI and a professor of political science by courtesy. She was the Colin and Nancy Campbell Professor of Global Issues and Democratic Thought and professor of government at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., from 1974 to 2007. Her current research focuses on innovation in terrorist campaigns, the distinction between "old" and "new" terrorism, how terrorism ends, and why the United States is the target of terrorism. She serves on the Executive Board of Women in International Security and chairs the American Political Science Association (APSA) Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism. She has served on the Council of the APSA and is a former President and Councilor of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP). In 2004 ISPP awarded her its Nevitt Sanford Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution and in 2005 the Jeanne Knutson award for service to the society. She serves on the editorial boards of the journals International Security, Orbis, Political Psychology, Security Studies, and Terrorism and Political Violence. She coordinated the working group on political explanations of terrorism for the 2005 Club de Madrid International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security. She is a lead investigator with the National Center for the Study of Terrorism and the Response to Terrorism (NC-START) at the University of Maryland, funded by the Department of Homeland Security. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2005-2006. She serves on the Committee on Law and Justice and the Committee on Determining Basic Research Needs to Interrupt the Improvised Explosive Device Delivery Chain of the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science. She was a senior fellow at the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism in Oklahoma City for 2006-2007.
David Laitin (discussant) is the James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor of Political Science and a CISAC faculty member. He has conducted field research in Somalia, Nigeria, Spain, and Estonia. His latest book is Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad. He is currently working on a project in collaboration with James Fearon on civil wars in the past half-century. From that project, "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War" has appeared in the American Political Science Review. Laitin received his BA from Swarthmore College and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
Reuben W. Hills Conference Room
Department of Political Science
Stanford University
Encina Hall, W423
Stanford, CA 94305-6044
David Laitin is the James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor of Political Science and a co-director of the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford. He has conducted field research in Somalia, Nigeria, Spain, Estonia and France. His principal research interest is on how culture – specifically, language and religion – guides political behavior. He is the author of “Why Muslim Integration Fails in Christian-heritage Societies” and a series of articles on immigrant integration, civil war and terrorism. Laitin received his BA from Swarthmore College and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
There is more to entrepreneurship in China than what takes place in Beijing and Shanghai, where high-tech firms make the headlines and international investments are the news of the day. Beyond the big cities, innovative Chinese entrepreneurs are working on exciting and ground-breaking projects in "traditional" industries ranging from shipbuilding to home furnishing that reveal important--though less well known--factors shaping Chinese innovation and entrepreneurship.
As a venture capitalist and founder of Cybernaut, a VC firm focusing on early-stage investment in China, Min Zhu is in touch with what is happening on the ground in the provincial peripheries far from Beijing. He has fascinating and relevant stories to tell of innovative entrepreneurship that is providing the foundation for tomorrow's successful Chinese firms.
Min Zhu (MS '85) has over twenty years' experience in high tech. He is co-founder of WebEx Communications, Inc., a leading Internet conferencing platform company that was acquired by Cisco in early 2007 for $3.2 billion; after co-founding the company in 1996 he served as President and CTO before being named "Chief WebEx"; in 2004 Zhu became a Venture Partner in New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a leading venture capital firm. In 2005 he founded Cybernaut, a Hangzhou-based VC firm focusing on early-stage investment in China. In 2007 Zhu donated $10 million to his alma mater to establish Zhejiang University Innovation Institute (ZII). He is one of the founders and board members of the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association, serves on a number of Silicon Valley boards and is an advisor for the San Jose Municipal Government.
Philippines Conference Room
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
What are the underpinnings of India's vibrant technology sector? Dr. Dossani will look at the causes and prospects of the sector, including the role of the diaspora, education, familiarity with the English language, entrepreneurship and economic and political reforms.
Rafiq Dossani is a senior research scholar at Shorenstein APARC, responsible for developing and directing the South Asia Initiative. His research interests include South Asian security, and financial, technology, and energy-sector reform in India. He is currently undertaking projects on political reform, business process outsourcing, innovation and entrepreneurship in information technology in India, and security in the Indian subcontinent.
Dossani holds a BA in economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, India; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India; and a PhD in finance from Northwestern University.
His latest book, India Arriving: How This Economic Powerhouse is Redefining Global Business, will be available at the seminar.
Philippines Conference Room
No longer in residence.
Rafiq Dossani was a senior research scholar at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) and erstwhile director of the Stanford Center for South Asia. His research interests include South Asian security, government, higher education, technology, and business.
Dossani’s most recent book is Knowledge Perspectives of New Product Development, co-edited with D. Assimakopoulos and E. Carayannis, published in 2011 by Springer. His earlier books include Does South Asia Exist?, published in 2010 by Shorenstein APARC; India Arriving, published in 2007 by AMACOM Books/American Management Association (reprinted in India in 2008 by McGraw-Hill, and in China in 2009 by Oriental Publishing House); Prospects for Peace in South Asia, co-edited with Henry Rowen, published in 2005 by Stanford University Press; and Telecommunications Reform in India, published in 2002 by Greenwood Press. One book is under preparation: Higher Education in the BRIC Countries, co-authored with Martin Carnoy and others, to be published in 2012.
Dossani currently chairs FOCUS USA, a non-profit organization that supports emergency relief in the developing world. Between 2004 and 2010, he was a trustee of Hidden Villa, a non-profit educational organization in the Bay Area. He also serves on the board of the Industry Studies Association, and is chair of the Industry Studies Association Annual Conference for 2010–12.
Earlier, Dossani worked for the Robert Fleming Investment Banking group, first as CEO of its India operations and later as head of its San Francisco operations. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of a stockbroking firm on the OTCEI stock exchange in India, as the deputy editor of Business India Weekly, and as a professor of finance at Pennsylvania State University.
Dossani holds a BA in economics from St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, India; an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India; and a PhD in finance from Northwestern University.
616 Serra St.
Encina Hall E419
Stanford, CA 94305
Varun's research focuses on technologies and policies for carbon capture and storage (CCS), technological innovation and diffusion, and the technology and energy policy of India. He leads the carbon capture and storage (CCS) research at PESD.
He received his Ph.D. and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford with specialization in energy systems and technologies. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur.