(EID-016) “ROSTER OF SCIENTISTS”

At the 1^st Roundtable Discussion about climate change, the energy crisis and food security held at Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City, the participants agreed to establish a “Roster of Scientists, Inventors and Engineers” (ROSIE) for the purpose of having a centralized clearing house for the exchange of information and resources between and among scientists, inventors and engineers on one hand, and government agencies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations on the other hand.

The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Science & Technology (DOST) and the AIM Policy Center. Prof. Federico M. Macaranas, Executive Director of the center and facilitator of the event endorsed the formation of ROSIE as the “roster of rosters”, while at the same time acknowledging what the DOST and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have earlier done along this objective.

As a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) I was a Special Assistant to Prof. Macaranas when he was Under Secretary for International Economic Cooperation at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Under his direction, I managed the day to day operations of the Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) Program, the Science & Technology Advisory Council (STAC), the Technological Information Promotion System (TIPS) and the Return of Knowledge (ROK) Program, among other programs and projects.

TOKTEN and TIPS are joint programs of the DFA and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), whereas ROK is a joint program of the DFA and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). STAC on the other hand is a home grown program of the DFA, as conceptualized by Macaranas. At one point, STAC had more than forty chapters worldwide, composed of mostly of Filipino scientists and engineers. It is the mother organization of the Brain Gain Network (BGN).

With the support of DOST, ADB and AIM, the United National Integrated Development Alliance (UNIDA) will foster the creation of ROSIE, drawing from the experience and the remaining resources of TOKTEN, STAC, TIPS, ROK and BGN.

Some of the well known members of STAC include Dado Banatao of SonicBlue, Dennis Mendiola of Chikka, Paco Sandejas of BGN Ventures and Amador Muriel of the Center for Fluid Dynamics.