A significant aspect of Obama’s economic stimulus plan (which may run as high as $850 billion) involves investment towards long-term innovation. Before Sunday, the task of carrying out that vision seemed to be on shoulders of Bill Richardson. The next Secretary of Commerce, whoever that may be, will be a central figure in supporting the private sector in bringing about the next business revolution.
Over the last three decades, there have been five major innovation cycles in the U.S. and most of these orginited in Silicon Valley. They are:
- Invention of the PC in the early 1980′s
- Rise of biotechnology and genetic engineering in the early 1990′s
- The Dot.com boom beginning in 1995
- The mainstreaming of “green” technologies in the early 2000′s
- Mobile computer and communication over the past three or so years
Last year, innovation guru John Kao – dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist magazine – sounded the alarm bell regarding America’s declining economic role in the world. The website for his book Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get states:
Even as the United States has lost standing in the world community because of the war in Iraq, Kao warns, the country is losing its edge in economic leadership as well. The future of our prosperity, and of our national security, are at serious risk. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
To reverse this trend, Kao has proposed investing taxpayer money (to the tune of $20 billion) to establish twenty major innovation hubs around the country. According to Kao, the model would be San Diego which has been able to transform itself from an old Navy town into a life-sciences and biotech center in just 15 years. Other hubs might pivot around clean energy in Detroit, digital media in New York, health care in Nashville or education reform in San Francisco. These regional centers would partner with leading public universities in the area to create a lot of high-skilled jobs and would serve as a training ground for students in the hard sciences.
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