Societies around the world seek to ensure that science and technology continue to provide solutions to social, economic, health, and environmental challenges while minimizing potential risks. The science & technology (S&T) policy concentration at Georgia Tech's School of Public Policy offers students the opportunity to learn how this is done. Students will study how countries around the world build and sustain a highly skilled technical workforce, maintain a vital research and development enterprise, facilitate the translation of research into commercial realities, and incorporate public views into decisions around innovation and regulation.
The context for research and innovation is ever changing, with shifts in social, demographic, and economic structures, rapid technological development, increased globalization of S&T, greater environmental concerns, and ongoing debate about the best way to achieve society's overall goals. This is a dynamic area of study, and the professors at Georgia Tech, through their strong research profile, are key players in defining the future of the scholarly field and advising agencies and organizations on their policies. To further advance the field, every two years we convene leading scholars from around the world to explore the research frontier together and debate current issues at our Atlanta S&T Policy Conference. Our students participate in the discussion. We are also engaged with colleagues and organizations around the nation and world, providing our students opportunities to work on nationally and globally oriented research projects and to spend semesters abroad studying S&T policy, particularly in European countries.