Continuing Innovation in Information Technology Workshop Report (2016) / Chapter Skim
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1 Fueling the Innovation Pipeline
1 Fueling the Innovation Pipeline
Pages 7-19
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It is the interplay among these contributors, with their disparate motivations, strengths, and limitations, that creates the innovation ecosystem in which theories and ideas can lead to the experimentation that spawns technologies and, ultimately, applications. In this chapter, three leading innovators dissect the research-to-application pipeline from different perspectives: Deborah Estrin on the value of application-engaged research; Robert Colwell on the motivations of different stakeholders within the IT innovation ecosystem; and Farnam Jahanian, on the sometimes unpredictable journey from insight to innovation -- and the imperative for the United States to remain at the forefront of IT.
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There, her team develops technolo gies that harness what she terms "small data," the small bits of information generated from the personal technology we use every day, for applications that support healthy living and other goals. Grounding Your Work Estrin has long been focused on the application-engaged research, which she calls "grounding your work." She pointed to advice she received from Jim Waldo, now chief technology officer at Harvard University, that helped crystalize the focus on the solution oriented research that has characterized her career: Waldo called for researchers to avoid wasting time thinking of creative problems, and instead spend time thinking of creative solutions to problems that someone in the world has articulated.
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Pairing those developments with her own inventions inspired her research focus today: improving health management using mobile devices, sensors, and the digital transactions of individuals. Estrin observed that the NSF's Science and Technology Centers program has given her research group the "funding and time to really bring the domain experts into the same room and process for a long enough period of time that we could take on authentically applicationdriven problems that transformed both the applications and the technology." According to her, once a product can be used, "reality gets to push back," and it is this push and pull between research and the real world that drives innovation.
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The Internet protocol suite, Web browsers, and TinyOS are other examples of powerful open-source tools that industry would not or could not have invented without government-supported work. As was pointed out by several participants, a key difference between university re search and industry research is the former is not constrained by specific business models and the financial market's pressure for annual revenue targets.
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Whereas academic researchers might be able to step back and examine the larger picture, a company focused on earnings doesn't always have that luxury. He said that industry is also Fueling the Innovation Pipeline 11
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FINFETsFINFETs GaAs RF RF power amp GaAs power amp Siri Siri The internet The Internet GPS GPS Embedded antenna Embedded antenna Better batteries Better batteries Photo courtesy of Ellen M Colwell, March 2015 193nm photolithography 193 nm photolithography Energy efficientcomputing Energy efficient computing MEMS accelerometer/gyro/barometer MEMS accelerometer/gyro/barometer 1 looking to sell things on a large scale.
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Counterfeit chips does not rely heavily on and cybersecurity concerns are very real threats. The car industry computing innovations also relies heavily on industrially produced electronics.
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Because IT is now embedded in these fields, new advances or solutions must incorporate multidisciplinary approaches that involve computer scientists and technologists, as well as domain experts. "Our community is in the middle of all of these conversations, and many of these advances will depend on involvement of members of our community and computational and data-intensive ap proaches," said Jahanian.
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The Need for Research to Match Our Aspirations Clearly, the United States has been a global leader in spurring the IT advances we enjoy today. A 2013 report by international business consulting firm McKinsey & Company lists 12 top "disruptive technologies," or innovations that will transform the global economy and daily lives (Box 1.1)
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0.5% 2.0% 0.0% 0.0% Source: Budget of the United States Government, FY 2015. FY 2015 is the President's request.
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As a result, Jahanian said, "Quantifying return on investment in the context of basic research often is a very very ambiguous proposition." The United States can take great pride in its long history of research and development. In 1945, Vannevar Bush's report on federal funding for scientific research laid a challenge the government quickly realized was worthwhile.5 In retrospect, there is a clear and direct path from Cold War–era federal defense contracts to today's Silicon Valley success stories.
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Contrary to what some would assume, there is in fact a very healthy relationship between university research and industry products, and today start-ups and university labs are more connected than ever, he said. According to an annual study by the Associa tion of University Technology Managers, there were 4,200 actively operating university start-ups in 2013, double the number in 2000.7 This ecosystem can in part be traced to the Bayh-Dole Act, enacted in 1980, which permitted licensing agreements between university laboratories and companies, thus giving universities the ability to patent their inventions and retain the rights, creating additional incentives for them to partner with the private sector to further their innovations.
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Today's researchers see the long history of this back-and-forth and recognize that this relationship is about the pipeline from knowledge dissemination to economic development, to societal benefits. In summary, Jahanian reiterated his firm belief that to date, federal investments in basic research have returned exceptional dividends to our nation, while also providing a foundation for economic prosperity and national security.
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