SIGNIFICANT ESTH OPPORTUNITIES IN JORDAN TO ADVANCE POTUS'

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 002487

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR S/P BEHRMAN
STATE ALSO FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, AND OES/STC
STATE PASS TO NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
STATE ALSO PASS TO NIH/INTERNATIONAL
STATE ALSO PASS TO USAID
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/RAMAMURTHY AND URIZAR, OSTP/RAO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL SENV PREL EAID PINR JO
SUBJECT: SIGNIFICANT ESTH OPPORTUNITIES IN JORDAN TO ADVANCE POTUS'
CAIRO VISION

REF: A. Amman 2404

B. Amman 2302

C. Amman 1880

D. Amman 1676

E. State 71325

(U) SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION


1. (SBU) Summary: A robust bilateral and regional ESTH partnership
with Jordan is evidenced through 18 USG agencies engaging in ESTH
collaborations over the past several years. Despite the individual
merits of each activity, the collective impact of this engagement in
supporting Jordan's science and technology (S&T) capacity and in
kick-starting the R&D-Innovation-Commercialization cycle critical to
employment generation and economic development remains limited. A
number of structural and resource impediments in Jordan's S&T
establishment suggest the need to elevate any new ambitious USG S&T
initiatives to Jordan's political leadership to ensure buy-in and
support. In addition to the many ongoing ESTH programs in Jordan,
there is significant ESTH-related opportunity to support the
President's Cairo vision - with additional resources and USG
commitment - and to have a transformational impact in implementing
and extending the deliverables outlined in the speech. End
Summary.


2. (U) A five member delegation led by NSC Senior Director for
Global Engagement Pradeep Ramamurthy, with participation from S/P,
NEA/PI, and R/PPR, visited Jordan from October 6-9 to follow-up on
the initiatives outlined in the President's June 4 speech in Cairo.
Their Amman meetings included briefings on bilateral and regional
ESTH issues with the Embassy ESTH Hub, a meeting at the El Hassan
Science City, and a lunch with seven entrepreneurs from the energy,
water, and environment sectors. This report provides an update on
some recent USG S&T engagement in Jordan as well as additional ideas
on implementing the President's Cairo vision in the ESTH arena.

Strong Bilateral ESTH Cooperation
--------------


3. (U) As many as 18 USG agencies have had some form of ESTH
collaborations over the past two years in Jordan. Without fail,
every month brings some joint activities. In just the last 20 days,
there have been three well received activities supporting the
U.S.-Jordan S&T Agreement:

-- A Technology Transfer and Innovation workshop held at the El
Hassan Science City supported by the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office and the Department of State. Technology transfer experts
from the National Institutes of Health (NIH),the University of
California, and Florida State University engaged with academia,
government, and the private sector on fostering innovation and
setting up technology transfer offices in Jordan;

-- A USAID sponsored workshop on strengthening proposal writing
skills and supporting commercialization for Jordanian scientists;
and

-- A Department of Energy workshop to support the development of
standards for "green building material envelopes."


4. (U) The USG continues to fund a variety of joint research
activities under the Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) program
for Arab-Israeli cooperation; several Jordanian institutions
participate in collaborative research with U.S. counterparts through
NIH and NSF grants; and there is continuing cooperation on a variety
of projects in the water, environment, and renewable energy sectors
- all areas highlighted in the POTUS speech. Fortunately, there are
also many U.S.-Jordan S&T collaborations that do not include the USG
- between the private sector and academia - testament to the strong
bilateral momentum on scientific collaborations.

But - Limited S&T Impacts
--------------


5. (SBU) Despite the strong bilateral collaboration, and the
individual merits of each activity, the collective impact in helping
Jordan's S&T capacity and kick-starting the

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R&D-Innovation-Commercialization circle, which is critical to
employment generation and economic development, remains limited.
There are many impediments to increasing S&T resources in Jordan and
to getting more "bang for the buck" from whatever little is
available. These include: scarce R&D resources (Jordan currently
allocates about 0.35 percent of GDP to S&T); lack of a science
policy framework to manage and prioritize science in the country;
weak S&T institutions with frequent turn-over (there have been three
Secretary Generals in the last two years at the Higher Council for
Science and Technology); internal turf battles within the S&T
community; little appreciation for intellectual property rights; a
propensity to spend money on "tangible" real estate projects versus
S&T and "knowledge;" a brain-drain of scientists towards greener
pastures in the West and the Gulf; and, perhaps most importantly, a
lack of a social contract between the scientist-inventor and
society.

Follow-Up to the President's Cairo Speech
--------------


6. (SBU) There is significant ESTH opportunity to boost our S&T
collaboration and implement the vision of the President's Cairo
speech. Given the issues outlined in Para 5, any ambitious
initiative to support the POTUS vision, and have a lasting
transformational impact, should elevate S&T issues beyond our
current primarily technical and operational level interlocutors to
strategic planners, including the Royal Court. This would help
Jordan's S&T community get increased traction and resources within
their own Government, academic, and private sector establishments.



7. (SBU) Jordan could play a key role in the implementation of the
Amman ESTH Hub proposed Arab American Science Partnership (AASP)
(refs A and C). This lead role could be reflected in a variety of
methodologies if funding support is available for the AASP or a
similarly ambitious S&T framework:

-- Requesting Jordan's political leadership to help convene a
regional science policy forum at the Undersecretary or Ministerial
level to support a critical science policy dialogue in the Arab
region, while also providing the USG with a forum to unveil any new
S&T initiatives;

-- Supporting the El Hassan Science City or the Jordan University of
Science and Technology in the establishment of a joint center of
excellence - in the fields of water, environment/climate change
research, or renewable energy - with U.S. private sector
participation;

-- Requesting the GOJ to provide co-funding support through its
recently established Scientific Research Fund with any USG initiated
science fund. Another variant of a co-funding approach could be to
jointly allocate some resources to the U.S.-Jordan Science and
Technology agreement.

-- Partnering with the Royal Society for Conservation of Nature and
several other environmental NGOs in selecting Jordanian youth to
implement the AASP Green Ambassadors program.

-- Partnering with eight to ten of the Jordanian public universities
in creating a "Junior Scientists Network" to join the National
Academies of Science supported Frontiers of Science Program;

-- Supporting several of the entrepreneurs who met with the visiting
NSC delegation to undertake internal outreach and mentoring roles,
and also share Jordanian experiences at the planned White House
summit on entrepreneurship;

-- Working with USAID/Jordan to implement additional S&T focused
programming - focused on energy/water/environment; and,

-- Expanding the Multilateral Water Working Group related (EXACT)
cooperative activities from traditional training or joint projects,
to include joint research among the core parties (an example: joint
identification of groundwater recharge sites in the region using GIS
technologies).


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8. (U) As discussed with NSC Ramamurthy, Amman ESTH Hub is glad to
support the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy and
provide input to a S&T Needs Assessment paper through a short TDY in
Washington. Embassy Amman will also continue to publish its regular
ESTH Hub activity reports with regional ESTH developments which were
highlighted as a "global best practice" by the NSC.

Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.gov.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/

BEECROFT