Information Technology Innovation Resurgence, Confluence, and Continuing Impact (2020) / Chapter Skim
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2 Universities, Industry, and Government: A Complex Ecosystem Yielding Innovation and Leadership
2 Universities, Industry, and Government: A Complex Ecosystem Yielding Innovation and Leadership
Pages 9-25
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From page 9... ...
This IT innovation ecosystem, key features of which are depicted in Figure 2.1, fuels a virtuous cycle of innovation with growing econom ic impact. This chapter discusses key lessons about this vibrant ecosystem -- drawing on examples depicted in Figure 2.1 and documented in Appendix B, distilled further in Chapters 3 through 5, and drawing on results from prior Computer Science and Tele communications Board studies.
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From page 10... ...
Many of these firms are household names, and their products and services underpin the digital economy -- and indeed the economy more broadly. In 2019, the combined estimated annual revenue of the top 10 Fortune 500 technology companies was nearly $1 trillion1 and the combined estimated annual revenue of the top 10 Fortune 500 telecommunications companies was approximately $500 billion.2 These figures do not, however, capture the full economic impact of IT more broadly in automotive, health care, agriculture, entertainment, commerce, and other sectors that now depend heavily on IT.
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From page 11... ...
As described in Chapter 5, some confluence threads draw from IT companies providing key products and services while other confluence threads reflect fundamental business transformations catalyzed by new computing capabilities woven together with deep domain knowledge and invention. The background ripples in the figure illustrate schematically how the left-to-right flow of innovation to impact is part of a larger, virtuous cycle dependent on use-inspired and use-informed interdisciplinary research.
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From page 12... ...
In the entertainment industry, the rapid adoption of interactive technologies on top of broadband communications, cloud computing, dazzling graphics, engaging user experiences, and AI-driven personal ization bolsters traditional companies such as Disney while enabling entrants such as Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu. In short, the question of what is an "IT company" has become much more complicated since the 2012 report, and the economic impact of IT capabilities extends well beyond this dynamic border.
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From page 15... ...
Research Areas to Examples of Economic and Confluence Impacts Core IT Research Fundamental Research Economic, Societal, or Areas Goals Significant IT Innovation Confluence Impact Networking, Reliable, scalable, Local area networks, Pervasive use of the Internet, Communications manageable, tethered Internet, wireless, the Web, and cell phones and untethered broadband throughout society and communications economy; communications networks networks used to operate cars, airplanes, and ships; e-commerce, telehealth, teleconferencing Systems, Architecture Manage increasingly Smartphones, cloud, Over 3 billion smartphones complex computers, personal computing, worldwide; cloud services; storage devices, and microprocessors Web and search technologies; distributed systems enterprise data sharing and enhance their performance Theory, Programming More effectively create Scalable, dependable, and Pervasive use of optimization, Languages software; understand agile software digital reconstruction, the nature of DNA sequencing, computation and apply cryptocurrencies, and that understanding to blockchain create more efficient methods Databases, Analytics Manage, discover, Enterprise software and Widespread use of data sharing locate, and analyze systems or data warehouses; precision information medicine, electronic health records; precision farming continued U n i v e r s i t i e s , I n d u s t r y, a n d G o v e r n m e n t 15
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From page 16... ...
It is difficult to predict a priori which research will pay off rapidly, which will take time, and which will surge repeatedly. As new research emerges, rich connections in the ecosystem and the availability of funding -- both venture capital and investment by existing firms -- sometimes make it possible for research ideas to be quickly scaled up for commer cial use.
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From page 17... ...
• 1960s-era industry work on virtual machines was aimed at sharing a lone computer among many users. 1990s academic research later reinvented virtualization to allow a microprocessor to run multiple software environ ments and led to the capabilities that make it possible to share computing resources within a data center -- a vital foundation for cloud computing.
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From page 18... ...
Virtual reality research over five decades has advanced with enhance ments to image processing and computer graphics, especially methods for rapidly rendering realistic scenes. As is depicted in Figure 2.1 and detailed in Appendix B, many advances in computing research connect back to groundbreaking work in Ivan Sutherland's 1963 Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral research that is the root of subsequent work in graphics and human-computer interaction, catalyz ing work years later across networking, systems, programming languages, graphics, and human-computer interaction (HCI)
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From page 19... ...
To capture a portion of this legacy, this report provides examples from the long history of research investments in networking, systems, architecture, programming languages, theory, security, AI, and HCI that intertwine together as the backdrop of each and every consumer e-commerce transaction. Although AI is the canonical example for resurgence, the impact of the Internet (now 45 years old)
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From page 20... ...
IT RESEARCH AS A PARTNERSHIP The United States fosters a unique and powerful range of research investment and partnerships. These exist within a complex ecosystem encompassing university and industrial research enterprises, federal research funders, emerging start-ups and more mature technology companies, investors in innovative firms, communities that develop and support open-source software, and the regulatory environment and legal frameworks in which innovation takes place.
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From page 21... ...
Among the distinguishing characteristics of universities is their ability to pursue foundational research -- provided their sponsors are willing to take a similarly long-term perspective. Examples where research seemingly had no immediate application but ultimately had major impact include decades of research in number theory that ultimately gave rise to modern cryptography and 1960s work on perceptrons aimed at mimicking human brain activity, which ultimately gave rise in the 2010s to deep learning.
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From page 22... ...
Appropriability also helps to explain why the companies that have tended to pro vide the greatest support for fundamental research are larger firms with leadership positions in their respective markets. This pattern holds even when the expected benefits sum up to far more than needed to justify the expense to industry.
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From page 23... ...
Through the 1980s there were a significant number of U.S. industry research laboratories conducting fundamental research in IT, including Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, IBM, and Bellcore.
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From page 24... ...
Lower costs have allowed for much wider penetration of technology and have in turn greatly reduced the barrier for who gets to innovate, opening the door to a much wider range of both research and researchers. TRANSLATION AND TRANSFER The IT innovation ecosystem relies on a growing number of mechanisms to foster innovation, facilitate its uptake by potential users, and sustain interactions among existing and potential commercial users and the computing research community.
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From page 25... ...
Together, these education and training paths contribute significantly to the IT talent relied on by industry, universities, and other parts of the economy. Perhaps the best publicized transfer mechanism is start-ups based on fundamental research undertaken in universities.
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