Innovation: The Innovation Economy: R&D and a Crisis

Speakers:
Josephine M. Cheng, IBM Fellow & Vice President, IBM Almaden Research Center
Judy Estrin, CEO, JLABS
Rick Rashid, Senior Vice President, Research, Microsoft
Sue Siegel, Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures

Moderator:
Michael Mandel, Chief Economist, BusinessWeek

A healthy economy is always driven by innovation—by big, new ideas. In todays economic crisis, a game-changing breakthrough couldnt come at a better time.

The big new ideas since the 1970s—such as the personal computer, networking, the Internet, and the Web—came from projects supported by government, corporate research and development funding, and venture capitalists. But over the past few years, hundreds of billions have been poured into biotech and IT, with no clear payoff as of yet. Now corporations are cutting back on R&D budgets, venture capitalists are turning cautious, and its not yet clear the role that government is prepared to play.

Has there been an innovation drought, or are the breakthroughs still to come? Will corporate support for R&D dwindle, and how will it affect our ability to innovate in Silicon Valley and in the US? Is the trend to conduct R&D outside the U.S., where it is less expensive, inevitable and the right thing to do? What is the role of government in stimulating R&D? And what will be the new technology that drives the next boom?

Come and hear some of the most distinguished industry insiders examine innovation and R&D today and tomorrow in Silicon Valley, the nation, and the world.