Partnership for Innovation

[Commentary] While many government actions involve domestic policy, working together with the European Union we can launch a new trans-Atlantic era of innovation.

First, we should coordinate regulatory policies and standards for new products and conduct joint research and development. We have done this before. By coordinating standards for online privacy in the late 1990s we helped accelerate the growth of global e-commerce. Emerging technologies -- renewable energy, smart grids, health IT, electric cars -- offer promising areas for cooperation. In regulation and standard-setting for new technology platforms like smart grids or health IT, we can connect our markets through more unified rules, creating greater scale for innovation. We can create and connect trans-Atlantic innovation clusters. These are the discussions our leaders had in Lisbon, and these are the areas primed for progress, including at this week’s Trans-Atlantic Economic Council meeting.

If we get it right, we will give a boost to the trans-Atlantic economy, generating new jobs in sectors poised to lead our economies in the coming decades.

[Kennard is the U.S. ambassador to the European Union and a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.]