Task Force Releases Benchmarks II

On November 17, 2006, In American Competitiveness Initiative, Funding, FY07 Appropriations, Policy, R&D in the Press, By MelissaNorr

As mentioned previously in this space, the Task Force on the Future of American Innovation held a press conference for the release of the Benchmarks II report on Thursday. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, David Abshire, President of the Center for the Study of the Presidency, and Larry Wortzel, Chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission and Vice President for Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation addressed a full house of Congressional staff, reporters, and other interested members of the DC crowd. This year’s Benchmarks report, called “Measuring the Moment: Innovation, National Security, and Economic Competitiveness,” focused more on defense and homeland security related research than the previous report.
National Journal’s Technology Daily and GovExec.com both ran an article on the event and report. A bit from the article:

A group of high-tech leaders and national security experts is asking President Bush to include basic defense research in his American competitiveness initiative.
The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation backed the request Thursday with a new report that warns that while funding for military research and development is at a record high, recent increases have focused on applying existing ideas to new weapons and equipment.
“We have been under-investing in the basic research needed for the next-generation military technology,” the report warned. The task force was formed in 2004 to advocate for more federal support for research in the physical sciences and engineering
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the long-term goal should be not just combating terrorism but leading in science by investing in national security advances. “Otherwise we’ll have opponents that have scientific capabilities we don’t understand,” Gingrich said.
He added that his biggest mistake as House speaker in the mid-1990s was not also tripling the National Science Foundation budget when Republicans doubled the National Institutes of Health budget.

We’ll keep you updated on the Task Force’s activities, press coverage of the report, and any impact it might have moving forward as we work with the Congress through the end of the year and into the next budget cycle.
A PDF of the Benchmarks II report can be found here.

 
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Highlighting Cyberinfrastructure

On November 17, 2006, In American Competitiveness Initiative, Funding, People, R&D in the Press, Research, By MelissaNorr

NSF Director Arden Bement encouraged colleges and universities to expand high speed networking tools as a path to innovation in a speech to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Technology Forum yesterday. The Chronicle article on the speech is available for free here for the next five days and then to subscribers only here.
A couple highlights from the speech and article:

“Leadership in cyberinfrastructure may well become the major determinant in measuring pre-eminence in higher education among nations,” he said. “Indeed, to be even more provocative, I would suggest that leadership in cyberinfrastructure may determine America’s continued ability to innovate — and thus our ability to compete successfully in the global arena….”
Mr. Bement said cyberinfrastructure was a “comprehensive phenomenon that involves creation, dissemination, preservation, and application of knowledge.” He said it was not just about building new networking tools, but new “norms of practice and rules, incentives, and constraints that shape individual and collective action.”

 
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