"CCST's role is to serve as a contact point, a central source of reliable information able to answer questions on any number of science and technology related issues faced by state leaders." Susan Hackwood Executive Director

California possesses a wealth of science and technology expertise. The state has more top research universities than any other, and indeed the largest state education system in the nation; more federal research facilities than any other state; and unparalleled high-tech industry clusters in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. Ironically, it is the very scope of this community that has often stymied the efforts of policymakers to leverage California's available expertise. CCST's role is to serve as a contact point, a central source of reliable information able to answer questions on any number of science and technology related issues faced by state leaders.

CCST's core sustaining institutions consist of the state's leading public and private academic institutions, including the University of California, the California State University system, the California Community Colleges, the California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California. Industry leaders also helped establish CCST, and have continued to play a leading role in all of CCST's projects and initiatives. This participation from the private sector has helped CCST respond effectively to the state's most pressing science and technology issues. But the broader science and technology community goes beyond academia and industry.

This year we have formalized a connection which hitherto has been primarily on a personal or project specific level, welcoming the national laboratories as affiliate members. Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Sandia/California, SLAC, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center have a tremendous impact collectively on California's economy and high-tech community.

Over the years, we have been fortunate to have benefited from the distinguished service of Council members and fellows representing every federally funded research laboratory in the state, and from the collaboration of many national laboratory experts on a project-specific basis. Through these new affiliate memberships, CCST will document clearly the national laboratories' significant impact in California. We will also be even better able to ensure that their expertise on key issues ranging from education to energy research to security is represented and made available as needed for policymakers.

The new membership of the national labs is just one part of a broader effort to make the collective expertise of the science and technology community available to policymakers in a way that is efficient, objective, and constructive; but it is an indispensable part of that effort. We welcome our new affiliate members, and look forward to helping California understand what an important role these institutions play in the vitality and strength of our science and technology community.