policy recommendations

Europe needs increased and "smarter" investments in both public and private research and development (R&D) to address the European Union's (EU) "Innovation Emergency," according to the European Commission's 2011 Innovation Union Competitiveness Report. The commission contends it is necessary to accelerate investments into R&D to achieve the EU's target of 3 percent of GDP being spent on R&D. EU members currently invest approximately 2 percent of GDP on R&D spending. The increased R&D spending will not only boost economic growth in the medium-term, it will also have a counter-cyclical effect on the current crisis according to the commission. However, due to the current debt crisis faced by several member states, public and private investments must strategically target sectors that the EU maintains a competitive advantage in including the climate change technologies. In 2007, EU researchers and companies filed approximately 40 percent of all patents related to climate change technologies. These are two of the several recommendations outlined in the report to deliver smart sustainable growth across the union.

President Barack Obama recently announced the creation of a national Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) to accelerate the development of manufacturing technologies at top engineering universities. The AMP initiative, which was developed based on recommendations from a report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), would leverage existing programs and proposals to invest more than $500 million in university and private R&D. The partnership is being called an "umbrella" for federal innovation programs.

The Council on Competitiveness in partnership with Deloitte released Ignite 2.0: Voices of American University Presidents and National Lab Directors on Manufacturing Competiveness, the second installment of a three-part series on improving U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. According to the report, talent-driven innovation, education and advanced skills development coupled with research, science, technology and full life-cycle commercialization are the necessary drivers for a U.S. manufacturing resurgence. Five goals for colleges, universities and the national labs to improve U.S. manufacturing competitiveness are outlined including:

From 2000 to 2008, the U.S. ranked 18th out of 30 countries in the growth of government-funded university research, according to a new report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF). In University Research Funding: the United States is Behind and Falling, Robert Atkinson and Luke Stewart compared the U.S. government and business funding for public university research against 29 other developed countries. The results indicate that both government-funded and business-funded have fallen dramatically behind and will continue to slip further behind several nations including China, Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

"Productivity growth is below the average rate of growth that has historically been recorded 39 months after a business cycle started," according to Growing Concerns About Future U.S. Competitiveness — a policy brief by the Center for American Progress. In this report, researchers examined several short-term economic trends (e.g., business investments and innovation) that help to stimulate long-term competitiveness. The brief contends that sagging productivity growth partly can be attributed to business investment that is at its lowest level in four decades and barely is keeping pace with the rates of depreciation on existing capital. Though, according to data, businesses have sufficient funds to finance more investment. The report also found that the U.S. innovation is lagging behind foreign innovation. According to utility patent data, the share patents granted to U.S. entities (49.1 percent) by the U.S. Patent Office is at an all time low. This continues a 15-year-long slide. Read the brief...

A larger number of states are positioned to capitalize on rising employment due to high-growth industries, according to a new report from Wells Fargo's Economic Group — Employment Dynamics and State Competitiveness. These states (i.e., Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Virginia and Texas) have been able to couple several high-growth industries with a skilled workforce to build their competitive advantage. The report utilized 20 years of employment data in 25 major industries to project industries that are likely to see high employment growth nationally, including finance & insurance, professional & technical services, accommodation & food services, other services and healthcare & social assistance industries. The researchers also found that more than a majority of states (more than 26) possess a competitive advantage in at least 16 of the 25 industries. However, the effects of the Great Recession may severely hinder some states' ability to capitalize on their competitive advantage due to limited worker mobility (e.g., Florida). The report advises policymakers to focus on long-term workforce training programs and focus resources on selected industries that maintain competitive advantages. Read the report...

International collaboration in science and technology (S&T) research has risen over the past 15 years from approximately 25 percent to over 35 percent, according to Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global Scientific Collaboration in the 21st Century — a new report from the Royal Society Science Policy Center. The special advisory group established by the Royal Society analyzed data that include research articles in international journals, citations in those articles, national rates of patent registration, number of researchers per nation, national expenditures on research and development (R&D) and the impacts of S&T research. Data was collected using several methods and sources including a call for evidence, data mining and face-to-face and telephone interviews.

Governor Jay Nixon has released the final report from a year-long effort to design a five-year economic strategy for Missouri. The report identifies seven target clusters for development, including advanced manufacturing, energy solutions, biosciences, health sciences and services, information technology, financial and professional services, and transportation and logistics. Recommendations include a new science and technology/innovation fund, an R&D tax credit, an angel investment tax credit and cluster-based career training. Read the plan...

Expanding the federal research tax credit and making it permanent could help generate $10 billion per year in research activity, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Tax Policy. Treasury also suggests that the enhanced credit could expand use of the credits, which already generate a one-to-one match in research spending and help support almost one million jobs. The current credit, which has been reauthorized temporarily 14 times since its introduction in 1981, is set to expire at the end of the year. Recently, a bipartisan group of House members began advocating for expanded, permanent credits, a policy that the Obama administration has incorporated into its last two budget proposals. The current budget debate, however, could derail that effort since the credits would cost the federal government an estimated $106 billion in tax revenue over the next ten years.

Recruiting bioscience faculty to universities and investing in R&D infrastructure tops the list of strategies recommended for Iowa to capitalize on a growing bioscience economy. A report commissioned by Innovate Iowa also finds that while significant progress has been made in growing the state's bioscience industry over the last 10 years, declining state funds to build research capacity and provide seed and venture capital remains a challenge for bioscience companies and entrepreneurs to compete regionally and globally.