IEEE-USA President's Column

 

 
President's Column
July 2006

Talk, and Action, on Innovation

A recent spate of torrential rain reminded me how vital it is to drive on a good set of tires. That sense of solid, forward-moving contact with the road — a.k.a. traction — always makes slippery roads seem less forbidding.

I also cannot escape thinking about traction when the topic of innovation comes up. It's an apt metaphor because the U.S. is slowly and measurably losing traction in its ability to sustain a competitive edge in the global marketplace against such technologically burgeoning nations as India and China. Competing successfully in this new global environment is essential for our national and economic security and to ensure that the U.S. is able to create high-value jobs and maintain a vital national engineering capability.

No one questions the seminal role that innovation plays in attaining this edge, yet somehow our innovation process has become mired in a confluence of factors: weak education in science, technology and math; a system of tax credits that hinders rather than helps R&D funding; corporate policies that deemphasize long-term research; and a lack of educators with adequate science and math training in K-12 — to name a scant few.

Sobering reports and recommendations by such eminent groups as the Council on Competitiveness, the Business Roundtable, the Electronic Industries Association and the National Academies (especially the Academies' "Gathering Storm" report) — not to mention the reverberating voices of our own 220,000 U.S. IEEE members, have spurred the House and Senate to draft promising legislation. This legislation would provide start-up capital for small tech businesses, advanced-degree programs for math and science teachers, enriched K-12 schooling, permanent tax credits, continuing education for scientists and engineers, and bolstered R&D efforts in manufacturing.

In my mind, IEEE-USA's communication with legislators aims not only to fire up necessary funding but to reorient prevailing mindsets on the innovation process as well — in other words, supplant short-term market-influenced goals with open-ended research that focuses not just on a specified target but recognizes and seizes on unexpected, ancillary results, a la Alexander Graham Bell and Jonas Salk. Remember serendipity?

With so many prongs to the discussion and so many findings scattered among different reports, how many Web sites would you have to visit for a complete and accurate portrait of this issue? Start with — www.ieeeusa.org — specifically, our "Innovation Initiative" at http://innovation.ieeeusa.org; and "U.S. Competitiveness: The Innovation Challenge," at www.ieeeusa.org/policy/issues/innovation/index.asp.

"Exciting" and "dynamic" may be hackneyed words, but I use them with all sincerity to describe the thorough gathering and clear presentation of links to our innovation-related policy and media relations efforts, legislative news, special events, trends in science and engineering, and others. Energy and action emanate from the letters we've been writing, bills we're backing, and conferences we sponsor. I encourage you to peruse these thoughtfully designed Web pages, and to take new observations away with you to share on our online forums.

Speaking of action, why not step into the new Entrepreneurs' Village at www.ieeecommunities.org/ieee.usa.entrestrat, an online community that blends old-fashioned mentoring with information exchange on best practices in organizational and legal issues, finance, venture capital, marketing, human resources, asset requirements, growth practices, and many other issues that are especially germane to small business.

Learn more about our nascent Innovation Institute, a focus of which would be workshops facilitated by prize-winning innovators in electrotechnology and attended by the brightest researchers in industry who would act as "apostles" in bringing their newfound understanding of the innovation process back to their peers.

On a final note, the "innovation movement" came to New York City's Grand Central Terminal recently in the form of a vast, vibrant exhibition of new tools demonstrating the vein of determination and creativity running through our society. Sponsored by The History Channel, "Modern Marvels 'Invent Now' Challenge" was a competition among independent inventors. Works by finalists included the Georgia Tech Wearable Motherboard™, a patented woven vest-like garment embedded with optical fibers and sensors that relay vital signs to any location, developed by Georgia Tech Textile Engineering Prof. Sundaresan Jayaraman for applications in law enforcement, fire-fighting, healthcare and space exploration.

What new technology will our exhibits be celebrating 50 years from now? That may depend on whether our government leaders take the reports of our slipping pre-eminence as seriously as we do.

Updated:  12 February 2008
Contact: Pender M. McCarter, p.mccarter@ieee.org