Meeting Global Challenges German-U.S. Innovation Policy: Summary of a Symposium (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Panel I: Current Trends in Innovation Policy
Panel I: Current Trends in Innovation Policy
Pages 50-62
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U.S. INNOVATION POLICY: NEW INITIATIVES Ginger Lew Senior Counselor White House National Economic Council Ms.
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"Consider the fact that small businesses in America generate 15 times more patents per dollar than large firms," she went on. "Small businesses employ more scientists and more engineers than America's universities and federal labs combined." When the White House launched the Startup America initiative in January 2011, the President challenged leaders of both government and the private sector to accelerate the success and economic contributions of America's entrepreneurs.
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Other regions also have vibrant entrepreneurial communities -- yet lack the capital and resources that could allow them to blossom. The other fund is the $1 billion Innovation Fund, which will make capital available to investment managers who invest in very early-stage companies.
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To expand its mentoring function, for example, the National Center for Women and Information Technology had agreed to help coach women entrepreneurs; Palindrome Advisors8 had committed to connecting 1,000 minority entrepreneurs with top industry advisors. In addition, the Angel Capital Association and the Angel Resource Institute announced that they would double the number of high-caliber investors affiliated with angel groups across the country, increasing annual investments by more than $1 billion.
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Results of an Independent Commission He turned to the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (the German abbreviation is EFI, for Expertenkomission Forschung und Innovation)
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Support for Education -- Even During a Recession Despite the recession, the EFI supported continued spending on education, even in 2008. Some people were surprised at the commission's recommendation, he said, and the EFI coined the phrase "education is innovation policy" to make clear the purpose of its strategy.
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State Department. "I was impressed by the intellectual leadership there," he said, "with the projects undertaken, and the attempts to bring innovation policy into development policy." He had also learned about Grand Challenges Canada,
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It's about coordination, communication, and maybe even about strategies." A major topic on his list was electromobility, which describes the systems that support the widespread use of electric vehicles, including design, systems integration, energy generation and distribution, and storage technologies. "In 2008," he said, "we were caught napping." In the 15 years preceding the financial crisis, German universities had undone 15 to 20 professorships in electrochemistry, which is the basis of battery technology.
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Dr. Singerman began by recalling an OECD symposium on innovation as long as 20 years previously, where he spoke about "the American job creation machine" and about seed funding at the federal and particularly the state and regional levels." He expressed gratitude to the organizers for another chance to participate in this topic, "not to lecture but to learn -- about the innovative German manufacturing export engine.
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In addition, he noted that the America COMPETES Act rebalanced the federal government's R&D portfolio "to meaningfully promote excellence in technology, engineering, and science." Reauthorized in 2010, this legislation recognized manufacturing as an important component of the innovation agenda. It called for the designation of a Committee on Technology under the National Science and Technology Council that would be responsible for planning and coordinating Federal programs and activities in advanced manufacturing research and development.
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A model for this program is SEMATECH, created more than 20 years ago by the semiconductor industry and the DoD to strengthen manufacturing capabilities in the semiconductor industry. It was so successful that after four years industry decided to fund the 13 Independent evaluations by the National Research Council found ATP to be "an effective federal partnership program." See National Research Council, The Advanced Technology Program: Assessing Outcomes, Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
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We accept the fact that entrepreneurs can and should fail, because you don't always get it right the first time. We try to adopt policies that give access to the technology, reduce regulatory hurdles, and catalyze the access to capital without interfering with the private capital markets.
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The government does involve itself in some issues, such as cyber security, privacy, or consumer protection, "but I think, again, let the marketplace do what it needs to do, and we get out of the way." Dr. Harhoff commented on similar considerations in Germany, such as the policy initiatives favoring the formation of innovation clusters.
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