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September 11, 2006
IBM gets it - Washington doesn't
From an new IBM Benelux blog on innovation - Next Level Weblog 2006: Do you still believe your R&D department is your main source of Innovation ?
Attentive listening feeds our brains with input and provides fuel for ideas. That’s why listening is a primary catalyst for creative thinking and innovation. How does that fit in the real world of business?
To paraphrase John Patrick, an early Internet pioneer at IBM, on the evolution of business: The old model was plan, build, deliver. The new model is iterative – sense and respond, sense and respond. In other words, it’s listen and change.
IBM gets it.
So when will policymakers understand that this is not your grandfather's innovation system? Where are the programs and policies that foster innovation, as opposed to R&D labs?
Don't get me wrong - R&D labs are important and are an important governmental function. But we need to move beyond that model.
But we can't seem to be able to do that. The real tragedy in Washington is that we can even get a basic R&D policy in place, in order to move on to the rest of the innovation agenda. This year's modest competitiveness agenda seems stalled - to the point where business groups felt the need to remind lawmakers about it. Washington Wire » Business Groups Push Competitiveness Plan:
Business lobbyists make post-Labor Day push for President Bush’s “competitiveness” agenda, dropping off lunch boxes — each filled with a “back to work” check list on competitiveness — at the offices of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The Business Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, among other groups, are pressing for quick action. Their slogan: “Back to School…Back to Congress…Back to action on U.S. Competitiveness!”
The Bush agenda, unveiled in this year’s State of the Union, has stalled in Congress amid election-year debates over larger issues. The 10-year, $136 billion package of spending and tax breaks is designed to stimulate business investment and boost federal funding for math and science education. The corporate campaign includes radio and print ads urging action, as well as lobbying. The Business Roundtable issues a statement urging lawmakers to “seize upon the limited window of opportunity offered by this fall’s congressional session.”
And already, Congress seems more interested in playing politics with the R&D tax credit than taking meaningful action. As the Wall Street Journal reports in Washington Wire » If It Quacks… on the possibilities during the post-election lame-duck:
Another possibility aside from immigration: extension of the research and development tax credit, a top priority for high technology businesses and a key element of President Bush’s competitiveness initiative. So far, the tax credit has been stalled as part of the so-called trifecta bill encompassing cuts in the estate tax and an increase in the minimum wage.
Frist says he intends to keep that controversial package intact through the election and not permit separate action on the R&D credit, which has bipartisan support. But a top Republican aide predicts it may be passed individually in the lame-duck session if Republicans keep control of Capitol Hill.
If Democrats take over, the aide says, Republicans would likely hold back on the extension so that it could “became an opportunity” for the party in the next Congress.
No wonder business is so far ahead and Washington is so far behind in adapting to the I-Cubed Economy.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at September 11, 2006 7:38 AM
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