So this morning I headed over to the business school with the best of intentions! I have this looming assignment due on Monday, however it has seemingly suffered from an endless sequence of really great distractions. As I sat down in the Common Room @ SBS, I overhear a conversation between two folks across the way. I wasn’t purposefully snooping…in the Common Room the acoustics carry sound quite a ways. Anyway, in one sentence I hear them mention Asia-Pacific, Chinese Science & Technology Ministries, Innovation and Technology…pretty much everything we’re exploring for our summer project. So then my interest is piqued so I had to purposefully try to listen in a bit!

Turns out the person I overheard is Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Ph.D who is the current Director of Research at Silicon Valley based Institute for the Future. Turns out he is in town presenting a paper on the future of Innovation & Science. 

Was a fantastic serendipitous run-in…we’re meeting up tomorrow morning for what I am sure will be a productive conversation. This is the amazing thing about Oxford, this constant flow of intellectual capital into the city creates so many opportunities for these kinds of run ins. Unfortunately, my paper still remains unfinished!