I’d like to take a minute to turn from our usual focus on foreign policy and diplomacy to take a look at science and technology. The U.S. has a proud history of being a world leader in technological innovation. This website, for example, provides a list of U.S. Nobel Prize winners, as of 2008, and it’s impressive, to be sure. Depending on your interests, I’m sure you will recognize the names of the esteemed winners. What can the U.S. do to make sure that this history of innovation continues? This commentary from MSNBC suggests several answers to that question and notes President Obama’s call for a “new spirit of innovation” as an important step in the right direction. A future haunted by global warming is certainly one motivator, as is securing the promise of nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Emerging technologies promise to create entirely new industries that will become engines of economic progress and prosperity if we invest now in determined efforts to maintain a culture that promotes and rewards innovation.
2 Comments So Far»
Since 2000 we have passed a number of laws and regulations that are killing innovation in the US. The incredible innovation of the 90s was based on technology start-up companies built on intellectual capital, financial capital, and human capital. All three of the pillars have been under attack since 2000. Our patent laws have been weakened reducing the value of intellectual capital. Sarbanes Oxley has made it impossible to go public reducing financial capital for start-ups and the FASB rules on stock options have made it harder to attract human capital to start-ups. For more information see http://hallingblog.com/2009/05/26/innovation-regulatory-road-kill/.
Dale, thanks for your comment. I agree with you about Sarbanes-Oxley, it was a well-intentioned law, but I think it could do with a review to see if it hasn’t become burdensome. The only real issue I can think to raise, from a U.S. Role standpoint, is to note that the U.S. has often lectured other countries on the need for transparency and good government. Given the recent global financial crisis, and the U.S. role in it, I’m not sure this is a time for reevaluating a law designed to promote transparency in financial reporting and disclosure.
Leave Comments Below»