Innovation- it’s the buzzword of the day. From President Obama’s State of the Union address to Foreign Policy’s latest cover story to initiatives to revive Middle America, the word has been invoked to solve problems from Africa to St. Louis. It’s a seductive notion: if we just innovate, discovering new technologies, drugs, and agricultural products, the global economy can be driven out of the stagnation it’s experienced since the Great Recession. Even the great Robert Solow realized that technological process was the primary driver of long-run economic growth.
But, innovation largely remains a goal without a clear path towards attaining it. Should research and development be funded primarily by the private or public sector? Should the government direct its increasingly limited funds more towards basic research or towards developing products for commercialization?
To read the full, original article click on this link: Bioscience Buzzwords: Seductive Notion or a Way Forward?
