I'm here with Chris Wood who is director of SFI's Business Network.
Hi Mel. Hi Chris! Good to see you.
Good to see you too. So, tell us what the Business Network is.
The Business Network is a corporate affiliates program like many others that you find at major universities
and other institutions of research and higher education,
but our Business Network is an affiliates program like none other.
It brings together fundamental science and scientists interested in
fundamental science at the Institute together with important business questions
brought to us by network members.
And you might ask yourself, "How can you possibly imagine that fundamental questions
like the organization of nature and society would have bearing on business problems,
and you'd be amazed at how frequently and how deeply that set of interactions
turns out to be valuable to our... to our network members.
And... what kinds of activities does the Business Network do?
We organize with our members - co-organize, each year, a set of 6 to 8 topical meetings
that bring together SFI scientists and scientists from other institutions
together to work with our Business Network members
on topics that they find interesting and important.
We worry about innovation,
we've had meetings on big data,
we have meetings every year in New York on risk, particularly as it applies to the
financial system, but risk, more... more generally, Nate Silver, whose name
you now know is quite famous after the last elections, was a speaker
at our risk meeting in New York two years ago long before he became famous.
So that's a good example of the breadth and depth
of the kind of activities that the topical meetings involve .
Mm-hmm. So I know your area was originally neuroscience, and do you feel like
you're now acting as a bridge between the scientific community and the broader
business community?
Well, part of my job as the director of the Business Network is to provide
exactly that kind of bridge. The bridge is a great metaphor; I also use a different
one at times as a broker between the scientific ideas of the Institute and the
questions and problems that businesses and government bring.
All right! Thank you, Chris! It's been great talking to you.
My pleasure, Mel. Thank you.