Source of the Week: Changes in Innovation Ecology ('Science' Editorial)

The June 2007 issue of Science Magazine features an editorial by William A. Wulf, past president of the National Academy of Engineering, about cultivating and stimulating innovation in our current technological environment, a topic that could be considered particularly relevant here at an institution that is looking to create a climate of innovation.

From the article: "Globalization has introduced both uncertainties and opportunities worldwide. In the United States, a flurry of recent books and reports has told the country how to be competitive in the 21st century, from Thomas L. Freidman's The World is Flat, to the National Academies'Rising Above the Gathering Storm, and at least a dozen more. All note the historic strength of the United States in innovation and suggest that reinvigorating this capability is key to future prosperity. The resulting recommendations relate to an "ecology" of interrelated institutions, laws, regulations, and policies providing an innovation infrastructure that entails education, research, tax policy, and intellectual property protection, among others. Unfortunately, this ecology is more fundamentally broken than is generally recognized." Read more...>>