Introductory Remarks by Dr. Rocco Martino

First Rocco Martino Lecture on Innovation

May 12, 2008

“The Roaring Forties is a name given, especially by sailors, to the latitudes between 40 S and 50 degrees S, so called because of the boisterous and prevailing westerly winds. The winds of the Roaring Forties played a significant part in the clipper route, and the initiation of global commerce. The winds were probably first identified by a Dutch sailor early in the seventeenth century.” (Wikipedia)

The Roaring Forties is also a term that might be applied to the Forties decade of the twentieth century. The early part of that decade spans most of the Second World War, which laid waste to much of Europe and a large portion of the Far East. In addition to widespread devastation, it led to the deaths, directly and indirectly, of over 60 million people. That war began at the end of a deep global depression that lasted most of the 1930s and saw American ingenuity at its best, as the nation came together out of the dustbowl of the depression to become the arsenal of victory.

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic explosion in history occurred at a test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. That was the birth of the Nuclear Age. On February 14, 1946, the first general purpose electronic computer was publicly demonstrated for the first time at the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering (now part of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, or SEAS) only a few blocks from where we meet today. And that was the birth of the information age, and the catalyst for today’s flat world.

These two events dominated the geopolitical and economic scene globally throughout the rest of the twentieth century. The threat of nuclear annihilation and the policy of MAD — mutual assured destruction — created a stand off between the two super powers and ultimately lead to the demise and disintegration of the Soviet Union as a superpower, and as a federated nation.

The impetus of the computer linked to its progeny—communication and visualization capability—spawned the information revolution that transformed the world economy into what it is today. The computer is indeed the wheel of the global economy whether we speak of a flat world, a global village, or a technical-economic revolution.

Today the United States appears to be the only superpower in the world, but it is hard to reconcile that title with its deficit economy, political turmoil, and economic instability. Jobs and opportunities seem to be fleeing the United States to other countries, even to the extent that many elements associated with national security are now outsourced. The miracle of American ingenuity, which created nuclear energy and information economics, no longer seems to lead and dominate the world scene.

This lecture series was initiated in the hope of being a catalyst in reviving the American spirit for innovation—a spirit which led to the largest increase of wealth in history for the entire world in the latter part of the twentieth century.

And what of the twenty-first century? Will it be solely the ascendancy of Asia; or will it be the rebirth of American economic leadership through a reawakening of America’s culture and heritage of innovation, ingenuity, and putting know-how to work?

Remember, this is the nation that woke up after Sputnik in October 1957 and put a man safely on the moon twelve years later in July of 1969! I am certain we will ignite a new cycle of the Roaring Forties.

My wife Barbara and I are indebted to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, to Dr. Harvey Sicherman and to Alan Luxenberg for sharing our vision for awakening the American spirit to propel us forward once again. With all of you tonight we look forward to the remarks by Dr. Paul Bracken of Yale, as he inaugurates the MMartino Lecture series on innovation, speaking on “Technological Innovation and National Security.”

Thank you.