INNOVATION POLICY
President Obama Links Middle Class Prosperity and Innovation
President Obama’s State of the Union address demonstrated the importance of science, innovation, and economic competitiveness to a prosperous and growing middle class.
SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION
Getting Good Technology out of the Lab and into the Marketplace
Encouraging the commercialization of ideas and easing the path from paper, to patent, to product for new technologies would have major benefits for small businesses.
TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Big Ideas for Small Business
In the latest installment of CAP’s “Big Ideas for Small-Business Policy” series, Sean Pool and Ed Paisley address changes to existing policy that help start up firms with high growth potential create jobs through the commercialization of new technology.
INNOVATION
“The First Step in Winning the Future is Encouraging American Innovation”
In this State of the Union Address, Obama gave more than a nod to the importance of innovation in our economy, he pointed out what we’ve been saying at SP for years: innovation is economic growth.
INNOVATION
Rising to the Challenge
No longer the maker of just low-cost consumer goods, China’s investments in technology innovation should serve as a warning to the U.S.
DOE Leads Federal Funding for a Regional Innovation Cluster
The Department of Energy today drew upon the recommendations of an Obama administration-wide effort to boost regional economic development, announcing that DOE would team up with six other federal agencies to create an energy-related regional innovation cluster dedicated to developing [...]
INNOVATION FINANCE
Angels Sometimes Need Help, Too
Early-stage investors in innovation companies—angel investors—and the founders of start-up companies they support financially, warrant investment support. Here’s one intriguing idea.
INNOVATION CLUSTERS
The Geography of Innovation
The federal government can assume a vital role in which it frames critical national challenges, facilitates the flow of information and expertise to and between regions, and helps finance, in a competitive and leveraged fashion, valuable activities that innovation clusters would otherwise be unable to undertake.
EDITORIAL
Tackling Complex Issues for New Policymakers
U.S. science and technology policymaking will be critical to carrying our deeply troubled economy back to the forefront of global innovation in the 21st century.
FINANCING SCIENCE
From the Lab to the Market
Five factors influence biotechnology transfer—university policies, economic development agencies, venture capitalists, strategic partners, and financial markets. Understanding each of them is crucial to building regional centers of innovation.
PRINT EDITION
New Challenges, New Ideas, New Policies
Above all, we have come together at Science Progress in search of new ideas and new policies that ensure scientific innovation offers all Americans the opportunity to contribute to the common good.
Britain Gets Creative About Innovation
British politician Gordon Brown has always been keen on creating innovation in his nation’s economy, convinced that U.K. universities and businesses together can create new technologies and services that will boost economic growth. Now that he’s prime minister of the United Kingdom, he’s moving swiftly to act on those inclinations—with possible lessons for the United States.
Financing Science
Bush Asks Congress to Double Science Spending
Progressives can get behind the president if he supports in words and deeds his calls for a doubling of federal spending on critical basic research, writes Ed Paisley.
Bad News, Good News on Seed Stage Financing
Getting good science from university labs and startup companies to the marketplace requires plenty of risk capital. Problem is, institutional investors are putting more and more of their money into late-stage venture capital firms, which disparage what they call the “spray and pray” venture financing model.
Health IT: Private and Public Push Needed
A telling quote in today’s Washington Post article about Microsoft Corp.’s new online Electronic Medical Record service, HealthVault, encapsulates why the federal government needs to join the private sector’s push for personal and secure online EMRs.
Cognitive Capitalism: Don’t Forget the Financing
A new Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development-sponsored paper, “Understanding the Regional Contribution of Higher Education Institutions: A Literature Review,” is chalk full of information on a wide array of roles played by universities in fostering innovation, lifelong learning, local policymaking and sustainable development.
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What We Work On
Science, Innovation, and Competitiveness
Science Progress and American Progress's Doing What Works project teamed up to produce a set of policy proposals that the Obama administration and Congress can adopt to reinvest in the building blocks of American science, innovation, and economic competitiveness. Read the overview of the five reports.
What We Believe
Science Progress proceeds from the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.