Rich Bendis was a member of this panel. -Ed.
The U.S. government spends approximately $140 billion dollars annually on research and development (R&D), which has been critically important to the strength of the American economy. However, only a small portion of the resulting discoveries have been commercialized by the private sector. As our global competitors accelerate investments in R&D and increasingly commercialize products and processes, it is imperative that the U.S. optimize its commercial output from federally-funded research to benefit public health and well-being, create jobs and increase economic value.
Federal research has done exceedingly well at accomplishing its original intent, which is to increase human knowledge, meet mission needs, and undertake high- risk research of long-term importance to the U.S. economy that is beyond the reach of the private sector. But commercialization of resulting discoveries from agency research has largely been an after-thought, despite clear Congressional and Presidential intent expressed through a series of legislative mandates and Executive Orders. While research to meet agency missions is critical, the members of the Panel believe that if the U.S. is to remain globally competitive in the 21st century, it must accelerate the translation of federally-funded R&D into commercial outcomes that create economic and public value, thus maximizing the return on the public dollars invested.
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