PIT-UN Convening Welcome Remarks from Azer Bestavros

Distinguished guests, it’s really an honor to stand before you today to discuss the crucial role of public interest technology. I believe that this event marks a significant milestone in our collective ongoing commitment to fostering innovation for the greater good. As President Freeman mentioned, the theme of this year’s convening is Partnership for Impact. We chose the theme because it is important to recognize and underscore that progress cannot be done by individual institutions alone or organizations alone. It has to be done in partnership. Many types of partnerships. I’ll get back to this point here.

Collaboration among stakeholders is key to addressing our society’s complex challenges, and this year’s convening is all about that. Our agenda is packed with inspiring keynotes, thought-provoking panel discussions, interactive workshops, and enriched and inspired student track with papers, posters, and conversation circles on core public interest technology topics. I really want to invite you to visit and join those activities on the second floor. This is where the students will be this afternoon, if you’re available.

The program was also built to ensure enough time was available for peer collaboration through workshops and member-led sessions. These include, actually, the morning sessions we’ve already started earlier today, and we have planned other sessions this afternoon. The significance of these sessions lies not only in the knowledge that will be shared but also in the connections and partnerships that will hopefully be enabled. So in preparing these remarks, I went back to what we wrote to New America back in May of last year, when we concluded a study at BU on the national landscape of what our universities are already doing around PIT. As I reflect on that report, I want to share with you some observations that I hope you’ll keep in mind as you participate in the event today. First, the challenges facing our society are complex, and the only way to effectively address these challenges is through interdisciplinary research and especially research at the nexus of technology, policy, law, ethics, and the social sciences in general. As members and leaders of institutions that put the public interest above all, we need to continue to foster and recognize the value of the socio-technical interdisciplinary collaborations.

Second, and this is important: The speed with which technology is developing is increasing the gap between the have and have nots, between its deployment in the public interest versus its deployment by industry for profit making. As members and leaders of the institutions that put the public interest above all, we need to double down on education and training programs that equip students with the skills to work at this intersection of technology and public interest and to introduce them to career opportunities in the public sector.

Third, for any of our work at the intersection of technology and the public interest to be effective, not to mention meaningful, it should be reflective of the makeup of our society and should be built on participatory research and development. So as members and leaders of institutions that put the public interest above all, we need to broaden participation in STEM programs to prioritize inclusivity, diversity, and equity in our programs and initiatives.

Fourth, recent polls show that only 36% of Americans have confidence in higher education. This is down by 20 percentage points in just eight years. We have a duty to reverse that trend. As I often say about BU’s creation of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, this is not going to happen unless we mold our ivory towers into public squares, in which the wants and needs of our society are heard and in which we can share with society what technology can do for the greater good. So as members and leaders of institutions that put the public interest above all, we need to reach out to our communities, local, state, and national levels to bring the public square to our campuses.

Lastly, while there are established models for supporting longer-term research — NSF and NIH — and while there are many Wall Street backers of short-term technology development, we have yet to figure out sustainable models for supporting the highly applied research and development of technology in the public interest. So as members and leaders of institutions that put the public interest above all, we need to figure this out through long-term partnership with organizations that believe in the cause. And by identifying strategies to share resources and scale successful projects and initiatives across our institution. 

Friends, we know that the path ahead is not easy. Our member institutions are facing more and more challenges from the sustainability of recent initiatives to the political realities that we have to navigate. But I deeply believe that partnership with each other, with industry and foundation, with the government, we can tackle these challenges. So I encourage you to participate in today’s session, but before we all go to work and on your behalf, I want to thank all those who worked hard for almost a year to ensure this convening. 

First, I want to acknowledge New America for giving us the opportunity to recognize this convening and for working shoulder to shoulder with us. Thank you, Andreen Soley and team New America. Second, I want to thank my colleagues in many of our academic institutions in the great state of Massachusetts for working with us at BU on the conception of the theme and the program for the convening. In particular, I want to shout out to my colleague Fran Berman at UMass Amherst. Fran, thank you.  Speaking of the need to forge partnerships, this convening is a case in point of what regional partnerships can do. Last but not least, I want to thank and acknowledge my colleagues at BU who worked tirelessly to take the concept and make it a reality. Team BU, please stand up to be recognized. All of you, please stand, stand up. In particular, I want to thank  Ziba Cranmer, Maureen McCarthy, and Carolina Rossini. Thank you, Carolina. We are in your debt.