Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies (2003) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
I. Introduction
I. Introduction
Pages 5-20
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 7... ...
In its review of a variety of partnership programs in the United States, the Committee has found that partnerships constitute a vital positive element of public policy, helping to address major challenges and opportunities at the nexus of science, technology, and economic growth.) This chapter introduces some core issues from the Committee's portfolio of work on public-private partnerships.
|
From page 8... ...
In the post cold war period, this cooperation expanded to include knowledge generation and technology development through a wide variety of mechanisms.2 Today's partnerships frequently involve direct support for research and development carried out by pr~vate firms, often in cooperation with universities or national laboratories. Partnerships have represented and continue to represent a pragmatic means of achieving national goals and exploiting technological opportunities that benefit the nation.3 Drivers of Partnerships Private investment to develop a new technology can be impeded by factors such as project scale and cost, dispersed expertise, and technical and commercial risk, even if these investments offer the prospect of substantial benefits to the firm, the industry, and to the society as a whole.4 By helping firms to overcome these barriers to investment, public-pr~vate partnerships can contribute to the development of industrial processes, products, and services that might not otherwise emerge spontaneously, and in this way help address government missions and generate greater public welfare.
|
From page 9... ...
Partnerships encourage firms to undertake socially beneficial R&D. The return on R&D investment, even for promising technologies, can be perceived to be too low when firms heavily discount distant income streams or when risks related to technical development and commercialization are seen as substantial.
|
From page 10... ...
In a consortium, firms can lower R&D costs or increase R&D efficiency while continuing to compete privately through their own product-related R&D programs. The role for government in the case of industry consortia is to legally enable this cooperation and when appropriate contribute funding and/or re~An illustrative list here could include partnerships in such sectors as electronic storage, flat-panel displays, turbine technologies, new textile manufacturing techniques, new materials, magnetic storage, next-generation vehicles, batteries, biotechnology, optoelectronics, and ship construction.
|
From page 11... ...
Imperfections in capital markets can sometimes pose major challenges to small firms trying to bring their innovations to market. Federal partnerships such as the Small Business Innovation Research program (SBIR)
|
From page 12... ...
partnership program, currently funded at approximately $1.3 billion per year across 10 government agencies; · The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) , which was one of the most politically controversial and yet is also recognized as one of the most effective of the major innovation funding partnership programs todayi2; · SEMATECH, arguably one of the most prominent U.S.
|
From page 13... ...
For example, federal policies affecting capital formation and corporate governance play important roles in competitive performance.~5 The range and diversity of these policies are substantial. They include government policies related to taxation, especially capital gains; fiscal and monetary matters; education and training; trade promotion and expansion; regulatory policies (e.g., for anti-trust and the environment)
|
From page 14... ...
Effective leadership in the management of S&T parks, such as those at Sandia and Ames, has proven essential for the benefits of relationships between the national laboratory and nearby firms to be realized. The Importance of Roadmaps: The Committee's recognition of the importance of technology roadmaps draws from SEMATECH's experience, where the industry perceived early on that problems of coordination could arise with a complex technology, multiple participants, and many ways of proceeding.
|
From page 15... ...
Having a sizeable stake in the outcome of the partnership enhances the motivation of those involved to make the partnership succeed; similarly, private contributions to consortia also provide a powerful incentive to terminate efforts that are not meeting objectives.2i In the case of earlystage innovation funding, individual entrepreneurs are motivated to qualify for awards in order to reap, ultimately, the financial rewards of a marketable technology. The government's goal is to leverage the motivation of the marketplace to meet government objectives.22 These objectives include accelerating the development of new products to improve health with new medical products, aid the environment with new energy sources, enhance national defense with better communications, and to strengthen international competitiveness of national industries, such as textiles, automobiles, batteries, and electronics.
|
From page 16... ...
Part III of this report notes that a growing body of economic thought often articulated in terms of New Growth Theory which argues that the composition 23The four factors identified by the Committee as bearing on the success of partnerships find analytical support in the New Institutional Economics literature. This literature addresses problems of collective action governing activities involving jointly produced outcomes.
|
From page 17... ...
As noted in Part IV it is normal that the federal research portfolio should evolve in response to new scientific opportunities and shifting national needs. Reallocations with respect to individual agency budget priorities, however, have led to unplanned declines in federal support for the disciplines underpinning information technologies.
|
From page 18... ...
Leading industrialists and expert economists in the United States and abroad see the consortium as having contributed to the resurgence of the U.S. semiconductor industry to its current position.28 Acting on this perception, governments around the world have launched numerous national and regional partnership programs, each providing substantial support for research and pre-competitive product development to national or regional semiconductor industries.
|
From page 19... ...
ATP funds are matched by awardees and are directed to pre-commercial research rather than product development. SBIR awards are smaller and are intended to develop the scientific and technical merit of research ideas in order to facilitate their commercialization and meet the federal agency goals.30 The Committee's examination of S&T parks focuses attention on the availability of funding over sustained periods, the presence and willingness of individuals and teams in the private sector to commercialize some of the knowledge generated, availability of physical infrastructure and quality-of-life amenities, and the need for effective leadership to facilitate and guide park development.
|
From page 20... ...
It notes that while the competition in high-technology industries is not new, it does seem to be accelerating as new entrants put in more resources, often in new or expanded partnerships.3i The belief in many nations that the government should support new technologies or industries considered strategic or simply important to the national economy is accelerating interest in partnerships as effective policy tools for encouraging innovation. The terms and nature of this aid vary greatly across countries, but in supporting their high-technology industries, many governments are looking to models of success arising out of partnership experiments in the United States.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.