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May 12, 2005
Innovation summit announced
Good news and frustrating news on the innovation policy front.
The good news is that Congressional and business leaders are sounding the alarm about the decline in American innovation. At a press conference today, a stellar group announced plans for an "innovation summit" this fall. The summit idea was put into the recently passed supplemental appropriations bill by Congressman Frank Wolf, the Chairman of the House Science-State-Justice-Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee -- the man who controls the purse strings. The legislative language directs the Secretary of Commerce to convene a national conference on science, technology, trade and manufacturing.
Joining Rep. Wolf at the press conference (and endorsing the summit) were Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, the Chairman of the House Science Committee; Rep. Vern Ehlers, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards; Rep. Donald Manzullo, Chairman of the House Small Business Committee; Governor John Engler, President of the National Association of Manufacturers; John Palafoutus, President of AeA; John Castellani, Business Roundtable; and Deborah Wince-Smith, President of the Council on Competitiveness.
These groups (NAM, Business Roundtable, AeA, and Council on Competitiveness) will work to organize the summit, which will be focused on action steps.
That such a group is sounding the alarm and is crafting an action agenda is good news.
The frustrating news is that this group is focusing almost exclusively on innovation as S&T. As Congressman Wolf put it, on the "innovation budget, federal basic research and development." Others talked about the need for training more scientists and engineers. Almost nothing in the discussion about all of the other elements of the innovation system -- including non-technological, non-research-based, non-laboratory-based innovation.
John Castellani of the Business Roundtable did bring up innovation in the services, financial and telecommunications industries. But even the bulk of his remarks were focused on R&D and S&T education.
This summit can be a great opportunity to craft a national innovation policy. I share this group's concern over our technological decline (see my earlier posting Falling behind in S&T). But if it focuses solely on innovation as home-grown S&T, then the summit will have wasted that opportunity. It needs to address the broader vision of innovation as creativity in a global marketplace. If it can create an innovation policy for the 21st Century, rather than recycle the technology policy of the 20th Century, this summit will go down in history as a turning point (similar to the Young Commission on Competitiveness) in our nation's quest for economic prosperity.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at May 12, 2005 10:54 AM
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