Innovation sweet spot: When technology meets business

[Commentary] In July, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council requested public comments on the upcoming update of the Strategy for American Innovation.

While the notion of innovation as a market good is debatable, the common theme linking national innovation strategies, almost without exception, is the unquestioned assumption that the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are central to this policy endeavor.

Investment in educating and developing STEM workers, funding STEM research activities, and facilitating the advancement of the resulting outputs into patentable products and thriving businesses are central tenets. However, one of the challenges for innovation is that transforming STEM research into the commercial activities that will underpin growing economic prosperity requires a special sort of entrepreneurial human capital that includes both STEM knowledge and business acumen.

[Howell is general manager for the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation]