Is democracy keeping up with science? Businessman John McQuillan is skeptical.
It’s why McQuillan, the owner of Somerville-based Triumvirate Environmental, is spending $10 million to launch a new institute in Greater Boston that would focus on the interplay between scientific issues and social ones. He’s hopeful that the work can be helpful to state and federal policy makers on issues ranging from artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles to genetic engineering and stem cell research.
The McQuillan Institute for Science, Technology and the Human Future has Harvard roots: It’s getting kicked off with a symposium on Friday at Harvard’s Loeb House, and its scientific director and cofounder is Sheila Jasanoff, a professor of science and technology studies at Harvard Kennedy School. But McQuillan and Jasanoff expect to support research from a variety of universities around the globe, though not all of the research will be done in an academic setting. There’s no physical location yet, though the institute has one full-time staffer so far; McQuillan hopes to host scientific lectures and symposiums tied to the research he’s funding in different Greater Boston venues.
McQuillan first met Jasanoff about 20 years ago, when he took one of her classes, and eventually decided to underwrite a lecture series that she coordinates at Harvard.
“Sheila and I have had conversations about doing something bigger, building out a bigger platform for the scholarship, for the research, and for the training of undergraduate and graduate students, and for the platform to showcase this scholarship,” McQuillan said.
The annual spending and number of researchers on institute-funded projects at any given time will be decided by McQuillan, Jasanoff, and a board that they are assembling in the coming months.
McQuillan started Triumvirate in his 20s, and has grown it to a 2,000-person business that specializes in waste management and disposal for the life sciences and manufacturing sectors, with an enterprise value of $1.8 billion. Now, he’s trying to launch a different kind of venture.
“The whole backbone of this is that science and technology is advancing at a fever pitch, but if it’s not advancing in the service to humankind, then that’s a problem,” McQuillan said. “We need to be able to develop policy to regulate these new discoveries. … There’s technology everywhere we go, and it’s coming out way faster than a democracy can manage it.”
Jon Chesto can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @jonchesto.
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