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GIF Network Blog
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Written by Global Innovation Forum Staff
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Monday, 21 September 2009 15:47 |
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Addressing an audience at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York, President Obama presented his strategic vision for American innovation. Stressing the importance of innovation as the key to America’s economic growth, President Obama plans to build on the over $100 billion of Recovery Act funds that support innovation, “from high-tech classrooms to health information technology, from more efficient homes to more fuel-efficient cars, from building a smart electricity grid to laying down high-speed rail.”
Moving forward, President Obama’s strategy calls for government policies that will harness the inventiveness of American entrepreneurs and the talent of our private sector to expand our economy and create quality jobs. In his plan, President Obama laid out three goals for American innovation.
First, the President called for renewed investment in the basic building blocks of innovation: “education, infrastructure, research.” President Obama explained, “We know that the nations that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. The ability of new industries to thrive depends on workers with the knowledge and the know-how to contribute in those fields. Unfortunately, today, our primary and secondary schools continue to trail many of our competitors, especially in the key areas of math and science.” And with graduates forsaking college or dropping out early due to skyrocketing costs, “too many of our young talented people -- are slipping through the cracks. It's not only heartbreaking for those students; it's a loss for our economy and our country.”
President Obama continued: We also have to strengthen our commitment to research, including basic research, which has been badly neglected for decades. That's always been one of the secrets of America's success -- putting more and more money into research to create the next great inventions, the great technologies that will then spur further economic growth.
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When we fail to invest in research, we fail to invest in the future. Yet, since the peak of the space race in the 1960s, our national commitment to research and development has steadily fallen as a share of our national income. That's why I set a goal of putting a full 3 percent of our Gross Domestic Product, our national income, into research and development, surpassing the commitment we made when President Kennedy challenged this nation to send a man to the moon.
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Secondly, President Obama’s innovation agenda emphasized the need for competitive markets to encourage and foster entrepreneurship, allowing American ideas to spread globally. The President explained, “So as we invest in the building blocks of innovation, from the classroom to the laboratory, it's also essential that we have competitive and vibrant markets that promote innovation, as well. Education and research help foster new ideas, but it takes fair and free markets to turn those ideas into industries.” The President’s budget provides for a research and experimentation tax credit, and he has proposed “reducing to zero the capital gains tax for investments in small or startup businesses.”
The President also understands the importance of a rules based system for trade. He noted that, “it's essential that we enforce trade laws and work with our trading partners to open up markets abroad; that we reform and strengthen our intellectual property system; that we sustain our advantage as a place that draws and welcomes the brightest minds from all over the world; and that we unlock sources of credit and capital which have been in short supply as a result of the financial crisis.”
Lastly, President Obama explained how government can be part of the solution for industries such as alternative energy and health IT, where the market will not produce desirable outcomes on its own.
President Obama explained: No area will need innovation more than in the development of new ways to produce and use and save energy…And that's why we're doubling our capacity to generate renewable energy, building a stronger and smarter electric grid…We're investing in technologies to power a new generation of clean-energy vehicles. We've helped reach an agreement to raise fuel economy standards. And for the first time in history, we passed a bill to create a system of clean energy incentives which will help make renewable energy a profitable kind of energy in America, while helping to end our dependence on oil and protect our planet for future generations. This bill has passed the House. We're now working to pass legislation through the Senate.
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For more on President Obama’s strategic vision: - Read the transcript of President Obama’s speech here.
- Read “A Strategy for American Innovation” White Paper here.
- Read American Innovation Fact Sheets here and here.
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Last Updated on Monday, 21 September 2009 16:24 |
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GIF Network Blog
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Written by Global Innovation Forum Staff
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Thursday, 30 April 2009 00:00 |
Ambassador Ron Kirk | San Francisco Chronicle
April 28, 2009American innovation and creativity are the pillars of our country's continuing economic development. But key to any nation's economic success is the ability to trade intellectual property - including the goods and services that flow from new ideas - in a rules-based system around the world. In recognition of World Intellectual Property Day, which we celebrated Sunday, all countries should step up and acknowledge their stake not only in safeguarding their own intellectual property, but in respecting other nations' intellectual property as well.
Intellectual property - embodied in products like films, software, music, and other goods and services - can hit the global marketplace sometimes with just a keystroke. If we're not vigilant, it can vanish after that. The reality of today's economy is that there are those who seek their own profit at the expense of others' ingenuity, through counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property.
The 95 percent of consumers who live outside the United States are hungry for American ideas. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spends a great deal of effort expanding global markets for the goods and services that flow from American ingenuity. But getting those products and services into those world markets is only our first task.
The president and I are confident that given a level playing field, America's businesses and workers can successfully compete with those anywhere in the world. Click here to read the full article.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 05 May 2009 10:26 |
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GIF Network Blog
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Written by Al Tramposch
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Sunday, 01 March 2009 00:00 |
In 1997, Mattel recalled over 10 million toys made in China, for hazards like lead paint and danger of swallowing small pieces. The US toy industry relies on China for about 80 percent of toys sold in the United States, so this major recall sent shock waves through the nation’s parents. Still, the response of Mattel was swift and effective. What made this quick response to a major health risk to our children possible? Brands. Counterfeit products are products that copy the brand of another company, usually one with a high consumer positive. Counterfeits can do damage in a number of ways. For consumers, the biggest threat is personal safety. For example, counterfeits do not undergo the rigorous testing and certification processes often required of genuine products, thereby threatening the health and safety of consumers. Brands provide multiple layers of protection. In addition to identifying the manufacturer and/or retailer of the goods or services, brands also assure that all goods bearing the trademark come from or are of an equal level of quality. Counterfeit goods circumvent this assurance, leading the consumer down a garden path of confidence and trust, where in fact there should be none. Take the case of counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Each drug put on the market must undergo a rigorous testing program, and be approved by the government for marketing and use based on tests which show the drug to be safe and effective. A counterfeit drug not only cheats the legitimate owner of the right to market the genuine drug, it also cheats the patient, and the government, since it is put on the market without the rigorous testing that would assure its safety and efficacy. No one knows what is in the counterfeit drug: at best it might be ineffective; at worst, deadly. Once a counterfeit product does its harm, that harm becomes compounded since the persons responsible for the harm are not identified. By definition, a counterfeit product will claim to be the product of another, usually reputable, company. If the product does harm and the real culprit cannot be identified, and the innocent company loses much more than sales — it stands to lose its good reputation, since products bearing its name have been harmful.
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