Policymakers, business talk about America's innovation challenges

We created the light bulb, automobile, computer chip and Internet. But is the United States losing its innovative mojo? That's the fear of 61 percent of Americans surveyed by Newsweek and Intel recently, who said they believe the economic recession has hurt the nation's edge in innovations. Today, political leaders, policymakers and the titans of industries gather in Washington to hash out ideas on how to get that mojo back and what the key is to unlocking innovations of the future. Monday night, Larry Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, opened the Innovation Economy Conference. He said the Obama administration is for its part trying to nurture an environment that would bolster innovations through the support of science and math education and through the encouragement of entrepreneurs. Specifically, he said the White House supports the extension of a research and development tax credit that expires this year. Summers said the administration seeks to grow research and development to become 3 percent of gross domestic product, compared to 2 percent today.