National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

Growing Innovation
Clusters for
American Prosperity

Summary of a Symposium

Charles W. Wessner, Rapporteur

Committee on Competing in the 21st Century:
Best Practice in State and Regional Innovation
Initiatives

Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy

Policy and Global Affairs

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
                   OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This study was supported by: Contract/Grant No. DE-AT01-06NA26358, TO #28, between the Department of Energy and the National Academy of Sciences; and SB134106Z0011, TO #4, between the Technology Innovation Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Academy of Sciences. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST). This report was prepared by the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council under award number 99-06-07543-02 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce. Additional funding was provided by The Heinz Endowments, Acciona Energy, Dow Corning Corporation, IBM, SkyFuel Inc., and the Association of University Research Parks. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-15622-6
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-15622-X

Limited copies are available from Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., W547, Washington, DC 20001; 202-334-2200.

Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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COMMITTEE ON COMPETING IN THE 21ST CENTURY: BEST PRACTICE IN STATE AND REGIONAL INNOVATION INITIATIVES*

Mary L. Good, Chair

Donaghey University Professor

Dean, Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology

University of Arkansas at Little Rock and STEP Board

Richard A. Bendis

CEO

Bendis Investment Group, LLC

Susan Hackwood

Executive Director

California Council on Science and Technology

William C. Harris

President and CEO

Science Foundation Arizona

Mary Maxon

Initiative Lead

Marine Microbiology Initiative

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Michael G. Borrus, Vice Chair

Founding General Partner

X/Seed Capital Management

W. Clark McFadden II

Partner

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

David T. Morgenthaler

Founding Partner

Morgenthaler Ventures

Edward E. Penhoet

Director

Alta Partners

Tyrone C. Taylor

President

Capitol Advisors on Technology

________________

* As of June 2009.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

Project Staff

Charles W. Wessner

Study Director

Alan Anderson

Consultant

McAlister T. Clabaugh

Program Officer

David S. Dawson

Senior Program Assistant

David E. Dierksheide

Program Officer

Adam H. Gertz

Program Associate (through June 2010)

Sujai J. Shivakumar

Senior Program Officer

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

For the National Research Council (NRC), this project was overseen by the Board on Science, Technology and Economic Policy (STEP), a standing board of the NRC established by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the Institute of Medicine in 1991. The mandate of the STEP Board is to integrate understanding of scientific, technological, and economic elements in the formulation of national policies to promote the economic well-being of the United States. A distinctive characteristic of STEP's approach is its frequent interactions with public and private-sector decision makers. STEP bridges the disciplines of business management, engineering, economics, and the social sciences to bring diverse expertise to bear on pressing public policy questions. The members of the STEP Board* and the NRC staff are listed below:

Edward E. Penhoet, Chair

Director

Alta Partners

Lewis W. Coleman

President & CFO

DreamWorks Animation

Alan M. Garber

Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Professor

Professor of Medicine

Director, Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research

Stanford University

Ralph E. Gomory

Research Professor

Stern School of Business

New York University and

President Emeritus

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Mary L. Good

Donaghey University Professor

Dean, Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology

University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Amory Houghton, Jr.

Former Member of Congress

David T. Morgenthaler

Founding Partner

Morgenthaler Ventures

Joseph P. Newhouse

John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy and Management

Harvard Medical School

Arati Prabhakar

General Partner

U.S. Venture Partners

William J. Raduchel

Chairman Opera Software ASA

_______________________

*As of May 2009.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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Jack W. Schuler

Partner

Crabtree Partners

Alan Wm. Wolff

Of Counsel

Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

STEP Staff

Stephen A. Merrill

Executive Director

McAlister T. Clabaugh

Program Officer

David E. Dierksheide

Program Officer

David S. Dawson

Senior Program Assistant

Charles W. Wessner

Program Director

Adam H. Gertz

Program Associate (through June 2010)

Daniel Mullins

Program Associate

Sujai J. Shivakumar

Senior Program Officer

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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PREFACE

Responding to the challenges of fostering regional growth and employment in an increasingly competitive global economy, many U.S. states and regions have developed programs to attract and grow companies as well as attract the talent and resources necessary to develop innovation clusters. These state and regionally based initiatives have a broad range of goals and increasingly include significant resources, often with a sectoral focus and often in partnership with foundations and universities. These are being joined by recent initiatives to coordinate and concentrate investments from a variety of federal agencies that provide significant resources to develop regional centers of innovation, business incubators, and other strategies to encourage entrepreneurship and high-tech development.

This has led to renewed interest in understanding the nature of innovation clusters and public policies associated with successful cluster development.

Project Statement of Task

An ad hoc committee, under the auspices of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP), is conducting a study of selected state and regional programs in order to identify best practices with regard to their goals, structures, instruments, modes of operation, synergies across private and public programs, funding mechanisms and levels, and evaluation efforts. The committee is reviewing selected state and regional efforts to capitalize on federal and state investments in areas of critical national needs. This review includes both efforts to strengthen existing industries as well as specific new technology focus areas such as nanotechnology, stem cells, and energy in order to better understand program goals, challenges, and accomplishments.

As a part of this review, the committee is convening a series of public workshops and symposia involving responsible local, state, and federal officials and other stakeholders. These meetings and symposia will enable an exchange of views, information, experience, and analysis to identify best practice in the range of programs and incentives adopted.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

Drawing from discussions at these symposia, fact-finding meetings, and commissioned analyses of existing state and regional programs and technology focus areas, the committee will subsequently produce a final report with findings and recommendations focused on lessons, issues, and opportunities for complementary U.S. policies created by these state and regional initiatives.

The Context of this Project

Since 1991, the National Research Council, under the auspices of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy, has undertaken a program of activities to improve policymakers' understandings of the interconnections of science, technology, and economic policy and their importance for the American economy and its international competitive position. The Board's activities have corresponded with increased policy recognition of the importance of knowledge and technology to economic growth.

One important element of STEP’s analysis concerns the growth and impact of foreign technology programs.1 U.S. competitors have launched substantial programs to support new technologies, small firm development, and consortia among large and small firms to strengthen national and regional positions in strategic sectors. Some governments overseas have chosen to provide public support to innovation to overcome the market imperfections apparent in their national innovation systems.2 They believe that the rising costs and risks associated with new potentially high-payoff technologies, and the growing global dispersal of technical expertise, underscore the need for national R&D programs to support new and existing high-technology firms within their borders.

Similarly, many state and local governments and regional entities in the United States are undertaking a variety of initiatives to enhance local economic development and employment through investment programs designed to attract knowledge-based industries and grow innovation clusters.3 These state and regional programs and associated policy measures are of great interest for their potential contributions to growth

_______________________

1National Research Council, Innovation Policies for the 21st Century, Charles W. Wessner, ed., Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2007.

2For example, a number of countries are investing significant funds in the development of research parks. For a review of selected national efforts, see National Research Council, Understanding Research, Science and Technology Parks: Global Best Practices, Charles W. Wessner, ed., Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.

3For a scoreboard of state efforts, see Robert Atkinson and Scott Andes, The 2010 State New Economy Index: Benchmarking Economic Transformation in the States, Kauffman Foundation and ITIF, November 2010.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
×

and U.S. competitiveness and for the “best practice” lessons they offer for other state and regional programs.

STEP’s project on State and Regional Innovation Initiatives is intended to generate a better understanding of the challenges associated with the transition of research into products, the practices associated with successful state and regional programs, and their interaction with federal programs and private initiatives. The study seeks to achieve this goal through a series of complementary assessments of state, regional, and federal initiatives; analyses of specific industries and technologies from the perspective of crafting supportive public policy at all three levels; and outreach to multiple stakeholders. The overall goal is to improve the operation of state and regional programs and, collectively, enhance their impact.

This Summary

The symposium reported in this volume brought together state and federal government officials, leading analysts, congressional staff, and other stakeholders to explore the role of clusters in promoting economic growth, the government's role in stimulating clusters, and the role of universities and foundations in their development. Attention was drawn to specific strategies planned or in place around the country to promote cluster development as well as the challenges faced in growing and sustaining clusters.

This summary captures the presentations and discussions of the 2009 STEP symposium on innovation clusters. It includes an overview highlighting key issues raised at the meeting and a summary of the meeting’s presentations. This workshop summary has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop. The planning committee’s role was limited to planning and convening the workshop. The statements made are those of the rapporteur or individual workshop participants and do not necessarily represent the views of all workshop participants, the committee, or the National Academies.

Acknowledgments

On behalf of the National Academies, we express our appreciation and recognition for the insights, experiences, and perspectives made available by the participants of this meeting. We are indebted to Alan Anderson for writing a summary of the meeting and to Sujai Shivakumar of the STEP staff for writing the introduction to this volume.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity: Summary of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/12926.
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National Research Council Review

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Academies’ Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for quality and objectivity. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.

We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Saul Behar, University City Science Center; Joseph Cortright, The Brookings Institution; Daniel Berglund, SSTI; Brian Darmody, University of Maryland; Timothy Franklin, The Pennsylvania State University; and James Gambino, Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the content of the report, nor did they see the final draft before its release. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the rapporteur and the institution.

Charles W. Wessner Mary L. Good
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Responding to the challenges of fostering regional growth and employment in an increasingly competitive global economy, many U.S. states and regions have developed programs to attract and grow companies as well as attract the talent and resources necessary to develop innovation clusters. These state and regionally based initiatives have a broad range of goals and increasingly include significant resources, often with a sectoral focus and often in partnership with foundations and universities. These are being joined by recent initiatives to coordinate and concentrate investments from a variety of federal agencies that provide significant resources to develop regional centers of innovation, business incubators, and other strategies to encourage entrepreneurship and high-tech development. This has led to renewed interest in understanding the nature of innovation clusters and public policies associated with successful cluster development.

The Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP), conducted a symposium which brought together state and federal government officials, leading analysts, congressional staff, and other stakeholders to explore the role of clusters in promoting economic growth, the government's role in stimulating clusters, and the role of universities and foundations in their development.

Growing Innovation Clusters for American Prosperity captures the presentations and discussions of the 2009 STEP symposium on innovation clusters. It includes an overview highlighting key issues raised at the meeting and a summary of the meeting's presentations. This report has been prepared by the workshop rapporteur as a factual summary of what occurred at the workshop.

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