Will 2009 be the year of Innovation Economics? Can America Invent Its Way Back? (BusinessWeek)

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What kinds of policies can improve the performance of U.S. innovation? In a new BusinessWeek article & video interview by Michael Mandel, the magazines Chief Economist, he reports that an increasing number of experts & policy makers believe its time for new ideas. Some suggest giving companies credit on their tax returns for 40% of the money they spend on research partnerships with universities and government laboratories. Others advocate creating a national foundation, similar to the NSF, with the mission of promoting innovation. The idea has some support: In June, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced legislation to set up a National Innovation Council. One of the hottest areas in the field is the use of government aid to cultivate "innovation clusters," or collections of local companies and academic institutions working together to create new products and processes. Ideally, those alliances would build on existing expertise in a region. Sounds like Triple Helix Innovation to me!