
Strategic Science in the Public Interest
University of Toronto Press
Published on 21. July 2007
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-8020-8853-6 (ISBN)
Description
The past twenty years have seen considerable shifts and struggles in 'government science' - that is, in the way the state funds, supports, regulates, conducts and uses scientific and technological activity. Focusing on federal labs and agencies, Strategic Science in the Public Interest explores how these labs have been located within, and often buried by, the larger commercially-focused federal innovation agenda.
G. Bruce Doern and Jeffrey S. Kinder examine four labs whose mandates deal with the Alberta oil sands, environmental technologies, wildlife research, and mining and metals, respectively. The authors use these cases to explain why a better middle-level approach to analysis is needed for strategic public interest-centred government science. They illustrate the importance of understanding the variety, as well as the similarity, of federal science and technology labs and agencies, and of instituting policies that reflect this diversity. The growing importance of Related Science Activities (RSA) is also explored, as well as the core trade-offs between commercial and public goods science in their mandates and their internal capacities.
G. Bruce Doern and Jeffrey S. Kinder examine four labs whose mandates deal with the Alberta oil sands, environmental technologies, wildlife research, and mining and metals, respectively. The authors use these cases to explain why a better middle-level approach to analysis is needed for strategic public interest-centred government science. They illustrate the importance of understanding the variety, as well as the similarity, of federal science and technology labs and agencies, and of instituting policies that reflect this diversity. The growing importance of Related Science Activities (RSA) is also explored, as well as the core trade-offs between commercial and public goods science in their mandates and their internal capacities.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
58 b&w illustrations, 1 b&w table
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
522 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8020-8853-6 (9780802088536)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
G. Bruce Doern is a professor emeritus in the School of Public Policy and Administration, Carleton University. He is the author and co-author of numerous books on Canadian politics and policy, including Faith and Fear: The Free Trade Story, with Brian Tomlin, and Canadian Public Policy: Ideas, Structure, Process, with Richard Phidd.
Jeffrey S. Kinder is a PhD candidate in the School of Public Policy and Adminstration at Carleton University.
Jeffrey S. Kinder is a PhD candidate in the School of Public Policy and Adminstration at Carleton University.
Content
AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionPart One: Historical Context and Analytical Framework Government S&T Labs and Agencies as Institutions: Towards Middle-Level Approaches Analytical ApproachPart Two: Case Studies of R&D-Focused Labs and RSA-Focused Agencies The CANMET Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories and Canada's Transformed Mining Sector The CANMET Energy Technology Centre--Devon and the Alberta Oil Sands The Environmental Technology Centre and Environmental Protection The National Wildlife Research Centre and Frontline Sustainable Development Related Science Activities in the Regulatory and Monitoring Process ConclusionsAppendix: Canadian and Comparative Science and Technology DataReferencesIndex