Assessing the Role of the Federal Government in the Development of New Products, Industries, and Companies examines the role of the federal government in the development of major innovations. This is done in a purely descriptive manner, specifically identifying and describing major products, industries, and firms resulting from U.S. government funding of research in the years since World War II (WWII). It is well known that during WWII and the famous 'Manhattan Project,' the Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Laboratories played a key role in the development of the atom bomb and nuclear energy. What is less well known is the role of the federal and national labs in the development of such key technologies as radar, lithium-ion batteries, and computers. The evidence clearly shows that these investments in military and space R&D ultimately had numerous significant commercial applications. This monograph is organized as follows. First, it outlines a strategy for identifying major products, industries, and companies resulting from government funding in the years since WWII, requiring the authors to define the concept of a general purpose technology (GPT). They conclude with a description of 40 innovations that have had a major impact on our economy and society. The description of these innovations contains fairly-detailed explanations of how these products were developed and how they made their way from lab to market. The outcomes of these federal investments in technology are quite impressive, both in terms of their economic and social impacts.

Innovation by Design: Impact and Effectiveness of Public Support for Business Innovation examines the conceptual and program models that exist for the design and implementation of government support of business innovation at different jurisdictional levels - from the national to the regional. It places this examination within the context of two broad approaches found in the literature, the traditional neoclassical approach to innovation policy and more recent evolutionary approaches. It explores the different policy approaches adopted in both leading economies, as well as several that have adopted a rapid innovation-based (RIB) approach to innovation policy and examines the relative merits of the respective approaches used by various governments. The monograph examines the existing evidence on the impact of a range of policy instruments, drawing on several recent reviews of both the academic and more policy-oriented literature. It also introduces the concept of the 'policy mix' for innovation that was introduced ten years ago in policy reviews undertaken for the European Union and OECD. It examines what value the 'policy mixes' approach adds to our understanding of the design and implementation of government programs for the support of business innovation. Finally, it addresses the question of how the introduction of innovation programs within a multi-jurisdictional, or federal, system complicates the evaluation of their impact and creates a need for greater policy alignment.

How do scientists impact society in the twenty-first century? Many scientists are increasingly interested in the impact that their research will have on the public. Scientists likewise must answer the question above when applying for funding from government agencies, particularly as part of the 'Broader Impacts' criterion of proposals to the US National Science Foundation. This book equips scientists in all disciplines to do just that, by providing an overview of the origins, history, rationale, examples, and case studies of broader impacts, primarily drawn from the author's experiences over the past five decades. Beyond including theory and evidence, it serves as a 'how to' guide for best practices for scientists. Although this book primarily uses examples from the NSF, the themes and best practices are applicable to scientists and applications around the world where funding also requires impacts and activities that benefit society.

Regional Technology-Based Economic Development: Policies and Impacts in the U.S. and Other Economies describes the economic rationales, policy elements, implementation mechanisms, and expected economic impacts of "technology-based economic development" (TBED) strategies that are being pursued in almost all 50 states within the U.S. economy. Once the dominant leader in the development and commercialization of technology, the United States has failed to respond to this globalization trend with comprehensive TBED strategies. At the national level, a comprehensive "innovation policy" structure does not exist. This situation has left state governments with the daunting task of constructing and implementing their own TBED strategies. Such efforts are rapidly expanding, but with uneven results due to the difficulty in developing and managing the set of instruments comprising the required policy ecosystem. Section 1 assesses the economic trends that provide the rationales for the range of policy initiatives occurring at the state level. In section 2, individual policy mechanisms and options for their integration into a holistic TBED ecosystem are described and critiqued. Section 3 describes similar TBED investment efforts in European and Asian economies. Distinct differences in the structure of and relative emphasis on individual policy tools are analyzed relative to U.S. trends.