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The importance of science and education to economies has become as familiar as the terms “Silicon Valley” and the Internet in the last decade. The idea that an economy can be fueled by innovation was first described in “Science, the Endless Frontier,” the report by Vannevar Bush at the end of World War II. The Bush report led, among other things, to the birth of the National Science Foundation, the Cold War funding of defense research, and the dramatic growth of the National Institutes of Health.
While it was important and even revolutionary in 1945, the idea that science and innovation are important to economic growth and competition is second nature to today’s policymakers. In recent years the focus in technology-based economic development has shifted from the federal to state and local governments. States from Michigan to Missouri to California have developed economic development initiatives in the life sciences and health care.
The Washington Advisory Group has helped a number of states and federal agencies, as well as policy-making groups outside the U.S., create innovation and competitiveness programs based on enhancing research and commercialization capacity. These long-term investments pay off. Every federal or state government investment in innovation needs the help of independent experts to establish peer review and organizational guidelines to ensure that the investment is made wisely.