Reception for Dr. Annette Schavan

On June 7, 2007, I attended a AAAS - German Embassy reception at the National Press Club for Dr. Annette Schavan. She is the German Federal Minister for Education and Research, which is akin to my National Science Foundation.

I was one of three NSF members there and was invited because of my recent background at the U.S. Embassy in Berlin.

Studying German the last two years paid off. I was able to listen to her talk, Strategic Cooperation for the Future: the German High-Tech Strategy, almost the entire time in German, and only a few times had to put on my ear phones for the English translation.

Dr. Schavan is the point person for Germany's innovation agenda and also an architect of the German government's High Tech Strategy and its 6 Billion Euro Program for R&D. Following her talk and a Q&A session, there was a buffet reception where I had a chance to chat with her about the similarities in goals.