Getting more bang for America’s R&D buck

The United States needs to do a much better job of transforming knowledge and innovation into new companies and products here at home, but doing so requires new policies that can help more quickly and effectively get technologies out of the laboratory and into the private sector. The best way to do so is to increase the regional impact of research investments. The Brookings Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation have recently proposed 50 innovative policy ideas to do just that.

With current federal research and development funding at modern historical lows (as a share of gross domestic product) and significant new federal funding unlikely given the current political and budgetary environment, the United States will need to do all it can to extract maximum return from its R&D investments. Join Brookings and ITIF to discuss how the incoming administration and Congress can bolster technology transfer and commercialization policies to ensure that federal R&D investments yield stronger commercial results, in large part by better coordinating with regional economies.