Supporting Innovation in the 21st Century Economy
Opening Statement By Chairman David Wu
Good morning. I would like to thank everybody for being at today’s hearing, particularly our witnesses.
Near the end of every year, Time Magazine publishes a list of that year’s best inventions. Some on the 2009 list include rubber from dandelions, a 3-D camera, and highly maneuverable underwater robots. At one point, no doubt Time’s list would have included the telephone, the transistor, or the polio vaccine. It is a challenging exercise in imagination to look at lists like these and try to predict which discovery will have the same level of impact as the Internet or the combustion engine, which discovery will go nowhere, and which will be tomorrow’s airship—useful for a time, but made obsolete by superior technology.
It is not an exercise in imagination to contemplate the impact innovation has had on our economy and our lives. Economists estimate that innovation has been responsible for 50 to 85 percent of the economic growth in this country. The importance of innovation—creating new ideas, products, and services—cannot be overstated. And in this global, highly competitive economy, it is increasingly the intangible inputs of R&D, education, and entrepreneurial risk-taking that drive that growth. Innovation is key to creating new industries, and therefore key to the creation of American jobs.
As I’m sure the witnesses will tell us today, the government’s commitment to funding research and education has had a major impact on fueling innovation. Innovation, though, is not just about expanding knowledge and making discoveries. Innovation brings new products and services into the marketplace that can then drive economic growth and future prosperity.
I hope the panel today can give us greater insight into the factors that have promoted innovation in the past and a picture of the health of our current innovation environment. I look forward to learning how the government can best support innovation. This is an important discussion to have as we look forward to reauthorizing America COMPETES.
Witnesses
Panel
4 - Dr. Dan Breznitz
Associate Professor The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Georgia Institute of Technology The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs Georgia Institute
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1 - The Honorable Aneesh Chopra
Chief Technology Officer of the United States White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OS
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3 - Dr. Rob Atkinson
President ITIF ITIF
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5 - Mr. Paul Holland
General Partner Foundation Capital Foundation Capital
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2 - Dr. Mark Kamlet
Provost Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University
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