A Game Plan for Innovative Success

December 05 / January 06 Volume 3 Number 6

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Without a major push to strengthen the foundations of America's competitiveness, the United States could soon lose its privileged position. The ultimate goal is to create new, high-quality jobs for all citizens by developing new industries that stem from the ideas of exceptional scientists and engineers, according to the report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm.

The congressionally requested report—€”written by a 20-member committee that included university presidents, CEOs, Nobel Prize winners, and former presidential appointees—€”makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology (S&T) efforts on meeting the nation's need for clean, affordable, and reliable energy. Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. The committee believes that ongoing evaluation of the results should be included in all of the measures.

"America must act now to preserve its strategic and economic security by capitalizing on its knowledge-based resources, particularly in S&T, and maintaining the most fertile environment for new and revitalized industries that create well-paying jobs," said committee chair Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. "The building blocks of our economic leadership are wearing away. The challenges that America faces are immense."

A brief overview of the four recommendations follows, with a sample of proposed actions to implement them.

Ten Thousand Teachers,Ten Million Minds
Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education.
—€ Among the recommended implementation steps is the creation of a merit-based scholarship program to attract 10,000 exceptional students to math and science teaching careers each year. Four-year scholarships, worth up to $20,000 annually, should be designed to help some of the nation's top students obtain bachelor's degrees in physical or life sciences, engineering, or mathematics—€”with concurrent certification as K-12 math and science teachers. After graduation, they would be required to work for at least five years in public schools. Participants who teach in disadvantaged inner-city or rural areas would receive a $10,000 annual bonus. Each of the 10,000 teachers would serve about 1,000 students over the course of a teaching career, having an impact on 10 million minds, the report says.

Sowing the Seeds
Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic research.
—€ Policymakers should increase the national investment in basic research by 10 percent each year over the next seven years. Special attention should be paid to the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics and information sciences, and to basic research funding for the Department of Defense.
—€ Policymakers also should establish within the Department of Energy an organization called the Advanced Research Project Agency—€”Energy (ARPA-E) that reports to the undersecretary for science and sponsors "out-of-the-box" energy research to meet the nation's long-term energy challenges.
—€ Authorities should make 200 new research grants annually—€”worth $500,000 each, payable over five years —€”to the nation's most outstanding early career researchers.

Best and Brightest
Develop, recruit and retain top students, scientists and engineers from both the United States and abroad. The United States should be considered the most attractive setting in the world to study and conduct research.
—€ Each year, policymakers should provide 25,000 new, competitive four-year undergraduate scholarships and 5,000 new graduate fellowships to U.S. citizens enrolled in physical science, life science, engineering and mathematics programs at U.S. colleges and universities.
—€ Policymakers should provide a one-year automatic visa extension that allows international students to remain in the United States to seek employment if they have received doctorates or the equivalent in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or other fields of national need from qualified U.S. institutions. If these students then receive job offers from employers that are based in the United States and pass a security screening test, they should automatically get work permits and expedited residence status. If they cannot obtain employment within one year, their visas should expire.

Incentives for Innovation
Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. This can be accomplished by actions such as modernizing the U.S. patent system, realigning tax policies to encourage innovation, and ensuring affordable broadband internet access.
—€ Policymakers should provide tax incentives for innovation that is based in the United States. The Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office should conduct a comprehensive analysis to examine how the United States compares with other nations as a location for innovation and related activities, with the goal of ensuring that the nation is one of the most attractive places in the world for long-term investment in such efforts.
—€ The Research and Experimentation Tax Credit is currently for companies that increase their R&D spending above a predetermined level. To encourage private investment in innovation, this credit, which is scheduled to expire in December, should be made permanent. And Congress and the administration should increase the allowable credit from 20 percent to 40 percent of qualifying R&D investments.

The study was sponsored by the National Academies, which comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century
Norman R. Augustine (chair)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Lockheed Martin Corp. (retired)
Craig R. Barrett
Chairman
Intel Corp.
Gail Cassell
Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Distinguished Lilly Research Scholar for Infectious Diseases
Eli Lilly and Co.
Steven Chu
Director
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Robert M. Gates
President
Texas A&M University
Nancy S. Grasmick
State Superintendent of Schools
Maryland Department of Education
Charles O. Holliday Jr.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
DuPont
Shirley Ann Jackson
President
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Anita K. Jones
Lawrence R. Quarles Professor of Engineering and Applied Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
University of Virginia
Joshua Lederberg
Sackler Foundation Scholar
Rockefeller University
Richard C. Levin
President
Yale University
C. Daniel Mote Jr.
President and Glenn L. Martin Institute Professor of Engineering
University of Maryland
Cherry A. Murray
Deputy Director for Science and Technology
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Peter O'Donnell Jr.
President
O'Donnell Foundation
Lee R. Raymond
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Exxon Mobil Corp.
Robert C. Richardson
Vice Provost for Research and
F.R. Newman Professor of Physics
Cornell University
P. Roy Vagelos
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Merck & Co. Inc. (retired)
Charles M. Vest
President Emeritus
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
George M. Whitesides
Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor of Chemistry
Harvard University
Richard N. Zare
Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science
Department of Chemistry
Stanford University

NATIONAL ACADEMIES STAFF
Deborah D. Stine
Study Director