Innovation Policy Challenges For The 21st Century

As the economies of western countries move from primarily resource-based to knowledge-based, and trade liberalization limits what governments can do through direct action, the landscape of innovation is changing and policymakers must react accordingly. This exciting new book examines the challenges that policy makers face in responding to a new environment. The book addresses how governments are now seeking to drive innovation through new forms of R&D policies, through public procurement, skills development, entrepreneurship and innovation culture to name but a few of the approaches. Innovation Policy Challenges for the 21st Century explores these and other contemporary issues in innovation, reviewing the state of the art literature and consolidating current thinking at the frontiers of innovation. The volume debates and presents scattered and anonymous material in a coherent way, with a particular focus is on ‘hot topics’ in the field of innovation studies that have been previously under-researched. The book is divided into four key themes: government as a key actor in the innovation process, entrepreneurs as innovators, skills and competences required to maintain and improve innovation performance in Europe and finally, the wider context in which innovation policy develops.

To mark the opening of a study of Comparative Innovation Policy: Best Practice for the 21st Century the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) convened a symposium providing an overview of areas to be examined in the study and topics requiring further policy attention. The event highlighted the policies and programs of leading nations and provided valuable insights into some of the common challenges of growing and supporting high-technology industry and the commercialization of public investments in R&D. This report contains a summary of the symposium proceedings and an introduction analyzing the issues and placing them in a broader policy context.

Illustrates how the production of knowledge has become central to economic life, and that competitiveness in the 21st century market place is characterized by the ability to translate scientific and technological knowledge into innovation. This book explains what we actually mean by the term 'knowledge'.

While nations have always competed for territory, mineral riches, water, and other physical assets, they compete most vigorously today for technology-based innovations and the value that flows from them. Much of this value is based on creating scientific knowledge and transforming it into new products and services for the market. This process of innovation is complex and interdisciplinary. Sometimes it draws on the genius of individuals, but even then it requires sustained collective effort, often underpinned by significant national investments. Capturing the value of these investments to spur domestic economic growth and employment is a challenge in a world where the outputs of innovation disseminate rapidly. Those equipped to understand, apply, and profit from new knowledge and technical advances are increasingly able to capture the long-term economic benefits of growth and employment. In response to this new, more distributed innovation paradigm, the National Academies Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) convened leading academics, business leaders, and senior policymakers from Germany and the United States to examine the strengths and challenges of their innovation systems. More specifically, they met to compare their respective approaches to innovation, to learn from their counterparts about best practices and shared challenges, and to identify cooperative opportunities. The symposium was held in Berlin and organized jointly by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and the U.S. National Academies with support of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the American Embassy in Berlin. Both U.S. and German participants described common challenges on a wide variety of issues ranging from energy security and climate change to low-emissions transportation, early-stage financing, and workforce training. While recognizing their differences in approach to these challenges, participants on both sides drew out valuable lessons from each other's policies and practices. Participants were also aware of the need to adapt to a new global environment where many countries have focused new policy measures and new resources to support innovative firms and promising industries. Meeting Global Challenges: U.S.-German Innovation Policy reviews the participants meeting and sets goals and recommendations for future policy.

America's position as the source of much of the world's global innovation has been the foundation of its economic vitality and military power in the post-war. No longer is U.S. pre-eminence assured as a place to turn laboratory discoveries into new commercial products, companies, industries, and high-paying jobs. As the pillars of the U.S. innovation system erode through wavering financial and policy support, the rest of the world is racing to improve its capacity to generate new technologies and products, attract and grow existing industries, and build positions in the high technology industries of tomorrow. Rising to the Challenge: U.S. Innovation Policy for Global Economy emphasizes the importance of sustaining global leadership in the commercialization of innovation which is vital to America's security, its role as a world power, and the welfare of its people. The second decade of the 21st century is witnessing the rise of a global competition that is based on innovative advantage. To this end, both advanced as well as emerging nations are developing and pursuing policies and programs that are in many cases less constrained by ideological limitations on the role of government and the concept of free market economics. The rapid transformation of the global innovation landscape presents tremendous challenges as well as important opportunities for the United States. This report argues that far more vigorous attention be paid to capturing the outputs of innovation - the commercial products, the industries, and particularly high-quality jobs to restore full employment. America's economic and national security future depends on our succeeding in this endeavor.

Recognizing that innovation is the key to international competitiveness in the 21st century, policymakers around the world are seeking more effective ways to translate scientific and technological knowledge into new products, processes, and businesses. They have initiated major programs, often with substantial funding, that are designed to attract, nurture, and support innovation and high-technology industries within their national economies. To help U.S. policymakers become more aware of these developments, a committee of the National Academies' Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy undertook a review of the goals, concept, structure, operation, funding levels, and evaluation efforts of significant innovation programs around the world. As a part of this effort, the committee identified Flanders, a region of Belgium with substantial autonomy, which is recognized for its comprehensive approach to innovation. Based on initial meetings in Washington and Brussels, and with the endorsement of Flanders Vice Minister-President Fientje Moerman, it was agreed to organize a conference that would review regional innovation policies in the context of the policies and programs of the Flanders government, and their interaction with those of the European Union. This book provides a summary of that symposium.

"One of the greatest challenges of the 21st Century is the problem of how the public and private sectors can sustain economic development, business growth, social well-being and ecosystem health in the face of accelerating demand for water, energy, and food. "Business as usual" projections of scarcity in water, energy, and food predict a lack of these resources sufficient to sustain economic and business growth as well as an adequate standard of living worldwide. Developments in technology are well documented, but this is the first book to explain the role of innovation in public policy and governance, a topic which is frequently overlooked and often frustrates developments in technology and business. Without innovation in public policy and governance, innovation in technology solutions will face persistent headwinds for adoption. The book showcases these innovations and creates a roadmap of what needs to change to drive economic development, business growth, social wellbeing and ecosystem health in the 21st Century."--Provided by publisher.

Recognizing that a capacity to innovate and commercialize new high-technology products is increasingly a key for the economic growth in the environment of tighter environmental and resource constraints, governments around the world have taken active steps to strengthen their national innovation systems. These steps underscore the belief of these governments that the rising costs and risks associated with new potentially high-payoff technologies, their spillover or externality-generating effects and the growing global competition, require national R&D programs to support the innovations by new and existing high-technology firms within their borders. The National Research Council's Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) has embarked on a study of selected foreign innovation programs in comparison with major U.S. programs. The "21st Century Innovation Systems for the United States and Japan: Lessons from a Decade of Change" symposium reviewed government programs and initiatives to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, government-university- industry collaboration and consortia, and the impact of the intellectual property regime on innovation. This book brings together the papers presented at the conference and provides a historical context of the issues discussed at the symposium.