Administration Bolstering Efforts on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Fostering innovation and entrepreneurship is one of President Obama's top priorities. His national innovation strategy identifies three critical roles for government: investing in the building blocks of long-term economic growth, such as research and human capital; creating the right environment to encourage private sector investment; and harnessing innovation to address national priorities such as clean energy and a more efficient healthcare system.

During the past week, the Administration has taken important steps to accomplish these goals:

1. The President unveiled his proposal to expand, simplify, and permanently extend the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit in order to help companies create good jobs in America today and increase productivity and growth in the future.
2. On September 2nd Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke convened the first meeting of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
3. The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a solicitation for a new program called Accelerating Innovation Research (AIR). This program will support researchers that have made an important fundamental advance in science and engineering but who require additional funding to help commercialize their research.
4. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provided a letter to OSTP on the use of e-commerce to promote the commercialization of federally-funded research. A number of companies, foundations, and non-profit organizations are interested in using online marketplaces and standardized agreements to accelerate the commercialization of research.