Making Innovation a National Pursuit

摘要

IRI's 2011 Annual Meeting focused on "navigating the new normal." Of course, a fair amount of discussion was given to defining that new normal-where are we, exactly, after the economic cataclysms of the past few years? Most agreed that one feature of this reshaped landscape is that the United States stands in danger, perhaps imminent danger, of losing its dominance as a nation of innovators. Developed nations are producing nearly as many PhDs as is the United States, and those they send abroad for education are increasingly returning home to work. More than half of U.S. patents granted last year went to citizens of other nations. The world is, as Thomas Friedman famously described it in his 2005 book, flat and becoming flatter, and globalization has not been kind to those who once stood at the top of the heap. But all is not lost. In some ways, the economic crisis may present an opportunity for developed nations to rethink and reconfigure their national innovation strategies to meet these new challenges. Government undeniably has a role to play in fueling and sustaining innovation, although various parties disagree on the particulars of that role.