October 22, 2007
By BRAD SPIRRISON
With the dual aim of promoting science in civic life and Chicago as a global center for technological development, Baxter Healthcare and several local universities, museums and research labs have combined to form the Chicago Council for Science and Technology.
The brainchild of Alan Schriesheim, director emeritus of Argonne National Laboratory, and Paul Knappenberger, president of the Adler Planetarium, the council is a membership organization designed to emulate the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in its organizational structure. The council—dubbed C²ST—will encourage scientific discourse through eventual monthly programs and the distribution of non-partisan policy papers. The organization will also devote resources toward improving science and technology teaching in Chicago’s public schools.
On Oct. 29, C²ST will co-host a program on space exploration with NASA administrator Michael Griffin at the InterContinental Hotel. Symposiums on stem cell research and global energy—featuring Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman—are scheduled for next year.
“Pulling these institutions together for the common good raises the general scientific and technological competency of the community,” Schriesheim said. “We have the clout and the contacts to get those people who are knowledgeable about technology and economics.”
In addition to Baxter, Argonne and the planetarium, founding organizations providing seed money and resources include the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry and the University of Illinois at Champaign.
The not-for-profit corporation, which has one full-time employee and an extensive board of directors, hopes to raise between $500,000 and $750,000 to fund infrastructure costs, programming and research studies.
“If we do this right, Chicago can own the focus on science and technology policy,” said Lew Collens, president emeritus at IIT and a C²ST director. “If we succeed in this, not only will we bring together the institutions in the Chicago area, but we will have signaled to the rest of the country that this is a really important place.”
Schriesheim said he was compelled to help form the C²ST in part to increase society’s appreciation of science in a politically charged environment.
“Solutions that are potentially provided by science and technology seem to be underweighted compared to their negative aspects,” he said. “On one hand, we have all the advantages of science, such as antibiotics and the ability to fly. On the other hand, there is this concern that science is degrading to life and the planet.”
Collens added, “Similar to supporting the symphony and the opera, this is an institution that can make Chicago a more attractive place to live and work by attracting the highest quality people.”
More information about the C²ST and future programs can be found at www.c2st.org.
A week of innovation
After Innovation Week in Chicago kicks off tonight with the sixth annual Chicago Innovation Awards, Microsoft and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce on Thursday will showcase local technological developments at the second annual Chicagoland Innovation Summit at Navy Pier.
More than 500 attendees are expected to take in a series of speakers, breakout sessions and technology demonstrations. Among the programs that will be on display during the Microsoft Innovation Expo is SPR/nAblement. Launched in 2004, nAblement places qualified information technology professionals who have disabilities with corporate IT departments in need of tech talent.
“There has been a shortage of resources in certain types of technologies and career paths,” said Don Karpiak, chief marketing officer at IT consulting firm SPR, which created the program. “We decided to tap into our community and client base to see if we could work as a conduit to bring that talent to the community.”
NAblement has since placed more than 30 candidates with clients including Northern Trust, Discover Card and BP Amoco. The program has also engineered screen reading technologies and accessibility features it will display at the summit that allow visually impaired developers to work on IT projects.
More information about the Chicagoland Innovation Summit can be found at www.innovatenow.us.