John Benditt, editor since 1995 of Science’s Next Wave, an on-line publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, has been named editor of Technology Review, effective September 15. Technology Review is published at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
According to a statement to ScienceWriters, he plans a significant change in the magazine’s format: “The new MTR will focus on the process of technological innovation... How does innovation take place? What are the areas where innovation is moving fastest? What are the consequences of innovation for culture and society?” He promises that the magazine will cover not only biotechnology and software, “but also the process of innovation in mature industries, such as transportation. An important focus will be on the kind of organization—whether it’s in the private sector, universities, or government—that encourages innovation.”
He also plans to broaden the circle of professional writers published in the magazine. “My effort to increase the range and impact of Technology Review,” he said, “will rise and fall in large measure on the basis of how successful I am in attracting new voices to our pages.” He invited “all writers with interesting ideas on the theme of technological innovation” to contact him at MIT after September 15. Initial informal inquiries can be sent to jbenditt@MIT.edu. Payment, he promised, will be competitive.
In a bio he furnished to ScienceWriters, Benditt noted that as editor of Science’s Next Wave, he had conceived and executed the editorial plan, recruited and trained the staff, and raised more than $750,000 to support the project. Earlier he had served as features editor of Science, directing and managing the coverage in “Research News,” and coordinating the magazine’s 20 or more special issues per year. From 1981 to 1989, he served on the board of editors of Scientific American. During that period, he persuaded his colleagues to devote a single issue to AIDS and later planned, commissioned and top-edited all its major articles. It became the largest-selling single issue in the magazine’s history.
Prior to those assignments, he served as associate editor of Family Planning Perspectives and as a reporter on the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.