Dan Breznitz, an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, testified before the House Science and Technology Committee's Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation at a March 24 hearing on the federal government's role in supporting innovation.

A theme of the hearing was the need for a comprehensive federal strategy to create an environment that is conducive to innovation in the United States. According to the witnesses, a comprehensive innovation strategy would include components such as a tax policy amenable to attracting capital, a more efficient process to transition research to commercializatiom and immigration policies that attract the best and the brightest and keep them in the United States.

Breznitz discussed three roles that the government has to play in innovation policy: public financing of private innovation; public production of innovation (i.e. financing of industrial research at nonprofit institutions); and facilitation of professional, interinstitutional networks. He also suggested that federal-state partnerships could stimulate states to compete in the development of different, experimental and creative policies for innovation and encourage regional collaboration.

A Web cast of the hearing and complete witness testimony is available at this link.