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Q. What are the Governor Gray Davis Institutes
for Science and Innovation?
A. The institutes, established on University of California
(UC) campuses, are comprehensive basic research
centers concentrating on complex scientific challenges
that demand multidisciplinary strategies and state-of-the-art
equipment and facilities. Partnership with industry
help move early-stage research developments into
the commercial R&D pipeline for more rapid
delivery of public benefits to the marketplace.
The institutes draw the best researchers and students
from throughout UC’s 10 campuses and three national
laboratories, as well as other California research institutions.
They are led by the world’s best scientists
and engineers.
The institutes create a new environment for industry
scientists to collaborate in fundamental research and
to educate future scientists.
Q. What was the origin of the institutes ?
A. The institutes were proposed by Governor Gray Davis in the year 2000 to ensure
California’s premier standing in knowledge-driven
high tech and bioscience industries and to provide
the technological underpinnings for the state’s
future economic growth.
Joint public and private investment will promote the
cutting-edge basic research and education of the next
generation of scientists and technological leaders who
are essential for California’s future leadership
in an increasingly competitive, international economy.
Q. What is the purpose of the institutes?
A. The two major goals of the institutes are to drive
California's economy and to improve the quality of life
for all Californians.
Q. How will the institutes help
the economy?
A. All four of the institutes are structured
in ways that will speed up business growth in the state.
UC researchers work collaboratively with hundreds
of the state's leading-edge businesses during the discovery
process so that the time it takes to develop and deliver
new products and technologies to the marketplace can
be reduced. The institutes also serve as a training
ground for the next generation of scientists and business
leaders because industry partners and student research
assistants work side-by-side leading researchers.
The areas of research addressed by the institutes target
major components of the CA economy.
Q. What are some specific examples
of what the institutes do to help the economy?
A. Three of the four institutes address technology.
Fifty years ago families had to huddle around
the radio to listen to it. All of that changed
with the invention of the transistor. Now we listen
to the radio in our cars and even in the shower.
The California Institute for Telecommunications
and Information Technology at UCSD and UCI hopes
to transform PCs and today's Internet in a similar
way through the use of wireless technologies.
Hopefully in the near future we will not have
to huddle in front of our PC to access cyberspace.
The California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA and UCSB
helps in this area and with many other areas
by finding ways to produce essential components
that are significantly smaller (the size of a
thumbnail), cheaper, faster and have more memory
than those that exist today. For nonscientists,
to get a handle on what is meant by nanometers
you can think of slicing a human hair lengthwise
into 10,000 pieces - its a handful of atoms or
molecules.
The Center for Information Technology Research in the
Interest of Society at UCB, UCSC, UCD, and UCM
helps realize information technology's potential for
solving many of the complex problems facing society.
Society's challenges will shape the research agenda.
Some of the challenges addressed, such
as those in the area of transportation, will help to
improve worker productivity - or output per hour worked.
Any economist would agree that productivity improvements
are critical to the state and national economy's long-range
potential. At the same time, harnessing technology to
facilitate better management of traffic flows can help
save billions of dollars.
The major high tech industry groups affected by the
research at the first two institutes make up close
to ¾ of California's exports, and thus have a
tremendous impact on the health of the economy.
The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences at UCSF,
UCB, and UCSC addresses another key segment of
the economy by tapping physical scientists to
help biomedical scientists and physicians do new
things. As one small example of the potential
economic impact of this industry, the biotechnology
industry in California helped to create 3600 new
jobs related to drug production alone in 1999.
Q. How will the institutes contribute
to the quality of life?
A. While the possibilities are numerous, a few examples
of areas that the research address are as follows:
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The California Institute for Telecommunications
and Information Technology hopes to create a device
that can be swallowed in the form of a pill, and
is capable of transmitting information to your doctor
via wireless communications about how an internal
organ in your body is responding to the medication.
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The California NanoSystems Institute hopes to develop
"white laser" which would replace reduce energy
use by as much as 20% by replacing the light bulb
as we know it. It could also significantly reduce
the invasiveness of surgeries thus allowing more
surgeries to be done without lengthy and costly
hospital visits.
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The California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences hopes to use
DNA chip array to look at the genes targeted by
drugs that are taken now and to determine the effects
those drugs have on individuals' molecules (as opposed
to tissues) given each individuals' unique genetic
makeup.
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The Center for Information Technology Research
hopes to find ways to create real-time monitoring
systems so that older Californians can stay home
longer with care and treatments delivered through
electronic devices controlled remotely by doctors.
Q.
How does the research at the institutes differ from ongoing research
projects at the University of California?
A. Scientific advances increasingly require researchers
from different fields to collaborate – computer
scientists with biologists, chemists with physicists
and mathematicians.
The Governor Gray Davis Institutes for Science and Innovation
address that need, expanding UC’s basic research
capacity in multidisciplinary research and on a scale
of complexity that previously could not be approached
by researchers working in a traditional academic environment.
The basic nature of research at UC and its focus on
fundamental problems and generation of new knowledge
will not be changed. Through partnerships with industry,
the institutes provide a new, creative environment
for intellectual collaborations between UC and industry
scientists. In this way, the institutes accelerate public benefits
by expanding the development of new knowledge and facilitating
its transfer to the private sector.
Q. Is all of the financing for the
institutes coming from the state of California?
No. The state provides only one-third of the funding
in annual installments with two-thirds provided
by private and federal sources. The state planned to invest
$100 million in each institute, and challenged UC
and industry to match every dollar provided by the state
with at least two dollars in non-state funding an effort
that has been extremely successful to-date. The campuses
identify sources for the required matching funding.
The timeline and mechanism for the state's contribution
may be adjusted given its budget situation,
but total funding for the initiative is expected to
be no less than $1.2 billion, including $800 million
in non-state matching funds.
Q.
Why were the institutes created?
A. To make California’s knowledge-intensive industries
more competitive; to expand the state’s
research and development (R&D) capacity; and
to educate the state’s future R&D leaders
and workforce. Today’s global economy puts
a premium on the ability to create new knowledge
and move it rapidly in innovative R&D programs
that lead to new products, technologies and even
markets. California is a leader in that fierce,
technology-driven economic competition because
– perhaps more than anyplace else in the
world – it has the essential intellectual,
financial, and infrastructure resources.
The Governor Gray Davis Institutes for Science and Innovation
substantially leverage California’s competitive
advantage by focusing on the science and engineering
that drive the state’s economy. They forge
research partnerships between UC and industry to produce
the next generation of technologies and products.
The institutes also provide a new environment
for education, providing students insights on
private industry and future career opportunities
in the state.
Q.
How is industry involved?
A. The institutes were envisioned as opportunities to
create a new environment for joint industry-university
collaborations in fundamental research and teaching.
Each of the three institutes has formed partnerships
with an array of companies, small and large, that
will expand steadily over time. Private contributions
range from gifts to research grants. Many of the
partnerships involve intellectual
property agreements that, following standard UC
policy, enable contributing companies to negotiate
commercial licenses on specific research discoveries
that are patented by the UC Regents. Industry
scientists are invited to participate in research
collaborations, are engaged in co-teaching
new courses and provide internships for students.
All of UC's standard policies governing industry-university
relationships apply to the institutes.
Q. How do the institutes advance
the university's teaching mission?
A. The institutes provide new educational programs that present innovative,
multidisciplinary perspectives on science and engineering.
Both undergraduate and graduate students enroll
in these programs and are taught by leading scientists
and engineers. The students are provided a rare
view into fundamental scientific challenges that require
unusually complex, interdisciplinary approaches.
Participating industry scientists provide students
a first-hand look at the objectives, career opportunities
and educational requirements of today's knowledge-based
industries. The institutes provide students with an educational
experience that can help them become future R&D
leaders.
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