ANN ARBOR, Mich. – U.S.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today announced the members of the
National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a group
that will support President Obama's innovation strategy by helping to
develop policies that foster entrepreneurship and identifying new ways
to take great ideas from the lab to the marketplace to drive economic
growth and create jobs. Locke made the announcement at a U.S. Department
of Commerce University Innovation Forum at the University of Michigan,
where participants discussed the role of universities in innovation,
economic development, job creation and commercialization of federally
funded research.
“America's innovation engine is not as
efficient or as effective as it needs to be, and we are not creating as
many jobs as we should,” Locke said. “We must get better at connecting
the great ideas to the great company builders. The National Advisory
Council will help the administration develop a broader strategy to spur
innovation and enable entrepreneurs to develop breakthrough technologies
and dynamic companies, and to create jobs all across America.
“I want to extend my gratitude to the leaders
selected to The National Advisory Council. Their work will be a key
component of America’s economic recovery.”
Throughout U.S. history, basic research in
public and private sector research labs has spawned new technologies and
inventions that led to new businesses. And those entrepreneurial
businesses have been important drivers of job creation. Firms less than
five years old have accounted for nearly all net new jobs in America
over the last 30 years. Yet, as a share of gross domestic product,
American federal investment in the physical sciences and engineering
research has dropped by half since 1970.
Since taking office, the
president has taken significant steps to turn this trend around. The
Recovery Act included $100 billion to support groundbreaking innovations
in diverse fields, from healthcare IT and health research to smart
grids and high speed trains. Last fall, the president announced a
National Innovation Strategy, which called for doubling the budgets of
agencies including the National Science Foundation, to better support
basic research at our nation's universities. And the president's 2011
budget – while freezing domestic discretionary spending overall –
increases funding for civilian research and development by $3.7 billion,
or nearly 6 percent.
The National Advisory Council on Innovation
and Entrepreneurship will help build on this aggressive agenda. Members
of the council include serial entrepreneurs, university presidents,
investors and non-profit leaders. Steve Case, Mary Sue Coleman, and Desh
Deshpande will serve as Co-Chairs. See the full list of council
members below.
First | Last | Title |
Tom | Alberg | Managing Director, Madrona
Venture Group |
Tom | Baruch | Founder and Managing
Director, CMEA Capital |
Claude | Canizares | Vice President for Research
and Associate Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Curtis | Carlson | President & CEO, SRI
International |
Steve | Case | Chairman & CEO,
Revolution; Co-Founder, AOL |
Robin | Chase | Co-Founder, Zipcar |
Marcelo | Claure | Founder, Chairman, President
& CEO, Brightstar |
Mary Sue | Coleman | President, University of
Michigan |
Michael | Crow | President, Arizona State
University |
Desh | Deshpande | Chairman, A123 Systems,
Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks, and Sparta Group |
Judith | Estrin | Co-Founder, Bridge, NCD,
Precept, Packet Design; Former CTO, Cisco Systems |
Ping | Fu | Co-Founder, Chairman,
President & CEO, Geomagic |
Christina | Gabriel | Director, Innovation
Economy, The Heinz Endowments |
Barron | Harvey | Dean, Howard University
School of Business |
Krisztina | Holly | Vice Provost for Innovation,
University of Southern California; Executive Director, USC Stevens
Institute for Innovation |
Ray | Leach | CEO, JumpStart |
Kenneth | Morse | Co-Founder, 3Com and Aspen
Technology; Founding Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center |
G.P. "Bud" | Peterson | President, Georgia Institute
of Technology |
Michael | Roberts | Founder
& CEO, The Roberts Companies |
RoseAnn | Rosenthal | CEO, Ben Franklin Technology
Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania |
Carl | Schramm | President & CEO, Ewing
Marion Kauffman Foundation |
Ellen | Siminoff | CEO, Shmoop; Founding
Executive, Yahoo! |
Holden | Thorp | Chancellor, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Charles | Vest | President, National Academy
of Engineering; former President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Jeffrey | Wadsworth | President & CEO,
Battelle |
Jerry | Yang | Co-Founder and Chief Yahoo,
Yahoo! |