The Capacity Challenge: Governing in an Era of Rapid Scientific, Technological, and Economic Change

能力挑战：科学、技术和经济快速变革时代的治理

• 批准号: 1735661
• 负责人: Ann Keller
• 金额: $ 37.3万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-07-15 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1735661&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Capacity; Challenge; Governing; Era; Rapid

The public relies on government to evaluate both the promise and potential risks of widespread use of new technologies.  This study examines how federal agencies function given the rapid pace of technological innovation, which requires new evaluation routines and expertise.  For example, health applications using CRISPR/Cas9 technology intentionally alter DNA, posing new types of ethical and safety concerns.  Self-driving cars require the National Traffic and Highway Safety Administration's (NTHSA) to build expertise in cloud-based technologies and cyber-security. The study documents how federal agencies meet challenges, and assess opportunities and barriers when faced with new technologies. The study identifies best practices for federal agencies seeking to improve performance, manage the potential risks of new technologies and enhance the environment for scientific and technological innovation. This research contributes new thinking about how to support the development of sufficient public technical capacity in order to meet the current pace of scientific and technological innovation.  Several current cases are evaluated to assess how government agencies are responding to rapid technological change. This study draws from research that identifies the practices private sector firms use to remain competitive in fields of rapid scientific and technological change. Firms invest in their own technical capacity and encourage exposure to innovations across a variety of technical domains. This study asks whether the same principles of investing in internal technical capacity and encouraging exposure to diverse technical domains can support innovation in federal agencies. Because federal agencies face distinct circumstances, the study identifies practices that public organizations use to create and maintain technical capacity that are not relevant in studies of private sector firms.

公众依赖政府来评估新技术广泛使用的前景和潜在风险。这项研究考察了联邦机构在技术创新快速发展的情况下如何运作，这需要新的评估程序和专业知识。例如，使用CRISPR/Cas9技术的健康应用故意改变DNA，自动驾驶汽车需要国家交通和公路安全管理局（NTHSA）在基于云的技术和网络安全方面建立专业知识。该研究记录了联邦机构如何应对挑战，并评估了面临新技术时的机遇和障碍。该研究为寻求提高绩效的联邦机构确定了最佳做法，管理新技术的潜在风险，改善科技创新的环境。这项研究为如何支持发展足够的公共技术能力以满足当前科技创新的步伐提供了新的思路。对当前的几个案例进行了评估，以评估政府机构如何正在应对快速的技术变革。这项研究借鉴了一些研究，这些研究确定了私营部门公司在迅速的科学和技术变革领域保持竞争力所使用的做法。企业投资于自身的技术能力，并鼓励接触各种技术领域的创新。这项研究提出的问题是，投资于内部技术能力和鼓励接触不同技术领域的相同原则是否可以支持联邦机构的创新。由于联邦机构面临着不同的情况，研究确定了公共组织用来创造和维持技术能力的做法，这些做法与私营部门公司的研究无关。