Scholars in the science and technology field have not collectively questioned, much less proposed, an agenda for policy makers. Now is an appropriate time for such an undertaking. First, there is a growing belief that the U.S. national research and development system, like that of many industrial nations, is changing due to global competitive pressures and advancements in information technology and electronic commerce. Second, industry's R&D relationship with the academic research community is changing not only because of the global competition but also because of alterations in the level of...

Public Accountability: Evaluating Technology-Based Institutions presents guidelines for evaluating the research performance of technology-based public institutions, and illustrates these guidelines through case studies conducted at one technology-based public institution, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The aim of this book is to demonstrate that a clear, more precise response to the question of performance accountability is possible through the systematic application of evaluation methods to document value.
The authors begin with a review of the...

In this exciting work, Link and Scott summarize more than a decade of their research on public support of R&D in small, entrepreneurial firms, concluding public R&D investments, primarily funded by the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, are indeed bending the arc of innovation. Firms that receive SBIR project funding would not undertake the projects in the absence of SBIR's support. SBIR support has had a positive impact on the employment trajectory of firms and their ability to commercialize innovations. Bending the Arc of Innovation offers a theoretical model of the...

Technology infrastructure supports the design, deployment and use of both individual technology-based components and the systems of such components that form the knowledge-based economy. As such, it plays a central role in the innovation process and in the promotion of the diffusion of technologies. Thus, it is an important element contributing to the operation of innovation systems and innovation performance in any modern economy. Technology infrastructure, either in the narrow or broad sense, is not well understood as an element of a sector's technology platform or of a national innovation...

Inadequate investment in innovation is particularly costly in today's globally competitive environment where continued technological advancements are critical to sustaining economic prosperity. The government has a critical role in ensuring that society's general interest in innovation, and the public good associated with innovation, is represented in private-sector decision making. This can be accomplished through a variety of programs and initiatives that reward innovation at all levels.
The various activities that make this possible fall into two general categories: (1) the creation...

We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately. Benjamin Franklin The significant apathy that characterized relationships between indus- try and universities and the adversarial nature of relationships between industry and government have both faded rapidly in the 1980s as the realities of global competition have surfaced in the United States. Both industry and government leaders articulate a number of constructs for regaining our competitiveness in world markets. One of the more fre- quent strategies prescribed in this new competitiveness era is cooperation. Different...

As state support and federal research funding dwindle, universities are increasingly viewing their intellectual property portfolios as lucrative sources of potential revenue. Nearly all research universities now have a technology transfer office to manage their intellectual property, but many are struggling to navigate this new world of university-industry partnerships. Given the substantial investment in academic research and millions of dollars potentially at stake, identifying best practices in university technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship is of paramount importance....

This useful new book reviews the literature on technology and economic growth covering historical and theoretical developments such as:
*new models for measuring productivity
*sources of technical knowledge and technological spillovers
*stock market reactions to investment in technology
Such a comprehensive survey is likely to be welcomed by students and academics involved in business economics, strategy and technology, as well as being extremely useful for public sector employees concerned with science and technology policy and planning, and private sector employees in research...

Public sector entrepreneurship refers to innovative public policy initiatives that generate greater economic prosperity. These initiatives can transform a status quo economic environment into one that is more conducive to economic units engaging in creative and innovative activities in the face of uncertainty.

Public Sector Entrepreneurship traces the historical development of the concepts of private and public sector entrepreneurship and their connection to the separate notions of risk and uncertainty. Based on a formal conceptualization of these notions, the book illustrates...

The local levels of economies have felt the impact of technological change and globalization. These forces have triggered the need to understand the dynamic mechanisms that enable locales to respond to such changes. For example, the downsizing of traditional employers because of a major loss in market share due to new competitors, acquisition by global firms, or off-shoring of production or services was traditionally thought to be beyond the scope of powers of local policy makers, thinkers, and business leaders. In the world of practice, those concerned about the economic performance of...