With the America COMPETES Act up for reauthorization, there is an opportunity for Congress to inject some innovation into the nation's innovation policies, writes Rob Atkinson, in a recent paper from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. Atkinson outlines eight specific recommendations to improve the Act — many closely tied to the goals and current investment strategies of state and regional tech-based economic development organizations — including direct funding support for TBED. The proposals include:
- Create a $110 million SCNR program (Spurring Commercialization of Our Nation's Research) under NIST to support university, state and federal laboratory technology commercialization initiatives.
- Fund joint government-industry STEM Ph.D. fellowships.
- Allow foreign students receiving STEM Ph.D.s from U.S. universities to automatically qualify for green cards.
- Create a university-industry collaborative R&D tax credit.
- Fund industry-university-government manufacturing research and deployment centers.
- Establish an Office of Innovation Policy in OMB (i.e., an Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for Innovation).
- Institute a National Innovation and Competitiveness Strategy modeled on the National Broadband Strategy.
Atkinson asserts, given the fiscal constraints facing the entire nation, it is important to leverage non-federal resources whenever possible and “spur collaboration between various players in the innovation system.” He recommends state and regional TBED organizations receive half of the SCNR funding through a formula-based allocation system.
More information is available at: http://www.itif.org/files/2010-america-competes.pdf