Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies Book

Contents

PREFACE....................xvii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................1
I. INTRODUCTION....................7
Public-Private Partnerships....................8
Drivers of Partnerships....................8
Varieties of Partnerships....................10
Overall Lessons About Partnerships....................11
The Committee's Focus and Approach....................11
Conditions for Successful Partnerships....................13
A Guide to This Report....................16
II. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS....................23
Summary of Findings....................23
Recommendations....................30
III. AN ENVIRONMENT FOR INNOVATION....................35
The Policy Context of Growth....................35
The Pace of Technology Development and Growth....................39
IV. FEDERAL PARTNERSHIPS WITH INDUSTRY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE....................47
A Brief History of Federal Support....................47
Current Trends in Federal Support....................51
Changing Priorities and Funding....................52
Shifts in Composition of Private Sector Research....................54
Stagnation and Decline in Key Disciplines....................54
Meeting Tomorrow's Challenges....................58
Federal Support....................58
The Competitive Challenge of the 1980s....................59
The Policy Response....................62
Industry Leadership....................64
The Impact of SEMATECH....................65
Perspectives from Abroad....................66
A Positive Policy Framework....................67
Technical Challenges, Competitive Challenges, and CapacityConstraints....................68
Challenges to U.S. Public Policy....................69
Addressing the R&D Gap: The Focus Center Programs....................71
Meeting New Challenges-Countering Terrorism....................72
V. THE ROLE OF PARTNERSHIPS IN CURRENT TECHNOLOGY POLICY....................77
The Relevance of Partnerships....................77
The Roles of Partnerships....................77
Toward More Effective Partnerships....................80
Science and Technology Parks and Regional Growth Clusters....................82
The Sandia S&T Park....................83
The Ames S&T Park....................84
Consortia....................85
The Nature of Consortia....................85
The Case of SEMATECH....................88
SEMATECH's Contributions to Best Practice....................91
Addressing New Challenges....................94
A Potential Consortium in Solid-State Lighting....................96
Government Awards to Fund Innovation....................97
Firm Size and Sources of Innovation....................97
The Role of Small Firms in Innovation....................98
Cooperation as a Policy Goal....................99
Problems that Small Businesses Face in Financing Growth....................103
The Small Business Innovation Research Program....................105
The Advanced Technology Program....................106
VI. ACCOUNTABILITY AND ASSESSMENT....................111
The Need for Goals, Metrics, and Assessment....................111
The Role of Analysis....................112
The Need for Regular Assessments....................114
"Picking Winners and Losers?"....................115
Assessing Small Business Innovation Research: The Department of Defense Fast Track....................118
Assessing the Operations of the Advanced Technology Program....................120
VII. GLOBAL DIMENSIONS: COMPETITION AND COOPERATION....................125
Comparisons in a Global Economy....................125
Examples of Initiatives in Other Countries....................127
National and Regional Programs to Support the Semiconductor Industry....................128
Expanding National Programs Abroad....................130
Competition and Cooperation....................134
VIII. CONCLUSIONS....................139
Key Lessons....................139
Partnerships and Early-Stage Finance....................141
U.S. Partnerships in a Global Context....................141
Policy Impacts of this Study of Partnerships....................142
IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY....................145