Keynote Presentation

Abstract
This presentation is concerned with a comparative assessment of policies and strategies currently being employed by a number of nations to promote science, technology and innovation as a vehicle for wealth creation and prosperity. Research and Innovation Systems are increasingly seen as key drivers for growth and wealth creation. The work covers the initiatives being taken by the UK Government to stimulate the economy by fostering innovation, and includes a study of policies implemented by the governments of Canada, USA, Germany and China, and an evaluation based on performance indicators developed by the European Commission’s Innovation Union Scoreboard. The presentation will also touch on how Innovation is evolving in Asia, and the work of OECD in identifying trends and features of policy instruments to encourage science, technology and innovation.

Index Terms - Innovation, Science Policy, Innovation Scorecard, Knowledge Economy.

About the Speaker
Tariq Durrani is the Vice President (International) Royal Society of Edinburgh-the national academy for sciences and letters for Scotland, and Research Professor at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow UK. Prior to this he was the Vice President (Natural Sciences) at the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 2007-2010.

He joined the University of Strathclyde as Lecturer (1976); appointed Professor (1982); Department Head (1990-1994); Deputy Principal (2000-2006), with major responsibility for University-wide strategic developments in Computing/Information Technology infrastructure, Entrepreneurship, Staff Development and Lifelong Learning.

He has authored 350 publications; conducted collaborative research with industry, partnered in major European research programs; supervised 40 PhDs; had visiting appointments at Princeton, University of Southern California, Stirling, and UESTC Chengdu; and consulted for UK, Netherlands, Portugal, UAE, US, and European Union governments. His research includes Signal & Image Processing, Technology and Education Management.

Tariq Durrani has been a Board member and Director of United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the Scottish Funding Council; the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, the UK Equality Challenge Unit.

He has been active in professional societies, being President of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (1994-1995); President IEEE Engineering Management Society (2006-2007), and Director and Vice President of the IEEE Educational Activities Board (2010-2011).

He is a Fellow of IEEE, UK Royal Academy of Engineering, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and IET; and is VP of Royal Society of Edinburgh (2012-2014).

In 2003 Queen Elizabeth honoured him with the title OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) “for services to electronics research and higher education.”