HISTORY OF THE ISGP
“The effectiveness of governmental and societal policies increasingly depends on decision makers
obtaining an accurate understanding of the opportunities, and risks, associated
with emerging and “at-the-horizon” scientific and technological achievements.”
– Dr. George H. Atkinson ISGP Founder and Executive Director
Dr. George H. Atkinson launched the new Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP) following his service as the Science and Technology Adviser to U.S. Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. The ISGP is focused on balancing the urgency of addressing immediate science and technology (S&T) challenges with the patience to accurately incorporate emerging and “at-the-horizon” S&T advances into longer-term policies. The stability, security, and prosperity of our “knowledge-based” societies are increasingly dependent on the success our institutions have in addressing these complex and competing challenges.
The ISGP seeks to create a new type of international forum in which governmental and societal decision makers routinely obtain the credible understanding of the S&T (existing, emerging, and “at-the-horizon”) critical to formulating and implementing effective public policy. These are the S&T issues that can be reasonably anticipated to shape the increasingly global societies of the 21st century.