12/13/99

Jeannette Colyvas, KNEXUS program (650) 723-4781;
email colyvas@leland.stanford.edu

Kozmetsky family gift to support research on emerging knowledge economy

Teledyne co-founder George Kozmetsky today announced a $1 million gift to the Institute for International Studies (IIS) at Stanford University to support research currently under way on the emerging knowledge economy.

The gift, which comes from Kozmetsky; his wife, Ronya; and the RGK Foundation they founded, will create an endowment fund to name a senior research scholar and support research activities associated with the KNEXUS (Knowledge: Networks, Exchange and Uses) program at Stanford. This long-term interdisciplinary research program seeks to help scholars, government officials and business leaders worldwide understand the emerging knowledge-based economy and how it can be fostered in developing nations.

KNEXUS is one of the first research efforts funded through the Bechtel Initiative for Global Growth and Change, created in 1998 by the Bechtel Foundation to examine the interactive effects of worldwide political, economic, social and technological changes.

V. Paul Unruh, chair of the KNEXUS Leadership Advisory Council and president of Bechtel Enterprises, said, "It is an honor to receive the Kozmetsky family and RGK Foundation gift. I look forward to George's involvement in the Leadership Advisory Council and hope others will join us in supporting KNEXUS."

David Holloway, director of IIS, said the institute "fosters interdisciplinary research, and we are eager to involve industry in our projects. We are delighted to be sponsoring KNEXUS under the Bechtel Initiative on Global Growth and Change. KNEXUS has brought industry and the university together to study some of the key issues of global growth and change in the context of the knowledge economy. We look forward to great things from this project."

George Kozmetsky said, "Technological innovation has been the main driver of our economy. The best way we may be able to foster global growth, change and prosperity is to make learning, knowledge and the ability to innovate indigenous to institutions and organizations in developing regions of the world. KNEXUS research is aimed at contributing to this challenge."

In 1966 George and Ronya Kozmetsky created the RGK Foundation, which seeks to foster positive outcomes for people and communities through broad-based grant making for educational, medical, and community programs that improve the quality of life for individuals or contribute to the body of knowledge for the greater good of humanity. The foundation has sponsored studies in several areas of national and international concern including health, corporate governance, energy, economic analysis, and technology transfer. Conferences sponsored by the RGK Foundation have been designed to enhance information exchange as well as to maintain an inter-linkage among business, academia, community and government.

Nathan Rosenberg, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Public Policy Economics at Stanford and principal investigator of the KNEXUS program said, "We are grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Kozmetsky and the RGK Foundation for their foresight and generosity in extending their support and guidance to KNEXUS."

In addition to Unruh, Nobel Laureate Douglass North and former Stanford Provost William Miller are founding members of the Leadership Advisory Council. In addition to Rosenberg, researchers steering KNEXUS include Stanford faculty members James March and Gavin Wright and Syed Shariq, KNEXUS director of research. Bechtel Fellow Michael Wakelin co-chairs an effort to develop a network of international participants from the public and private sectors. KNEXUS is located at Stanford University's Institute for International Studies, led by Director David Holloway, and Deputy Director Chip Blacker.

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