About the Task Force on American Innovation
Who: Formed in 2004, the Task Force is an alliance of America's most innovative companies, leading research universities, and many of the largest scientific societies in the United States.
Why: Our mission is to support investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering. For many years, this investment has been falling to historic lows as a share of our gross domestic product, raising concerns that we're not investing an adequate share of today's resources to support the innovations of tomorrow.
Innovation is central to American jobs, competitiveness, and prosperity. After the Cold War, nations adopted market practices and through technology built a global economy that is more interconnected than we have ever known. In today's world, many nations compete very well on the basis of cost or quality. It is the ability to innovate - to create new high-value, high-margin goods and services - that sets a country, a state, or a region apart. Investment in basic research is a critical component of America's innovation system.
How: The Task Force is based in Washington, DC, working with the Administration and Congress to support the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Defense Department, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The budgets of these agencies support basic research at universities and laboratories across the country, and build the skills of our scientific workforce.
Although companies conduct some basic research, most of their investment is dedicated to applied research that builds on the insights of basic research to develop new products, processes, technologies, and services. Financial markets and shareholders limit the amount of high risk and longer term basic research conducted by companies.
Only the federal government has the resources and risk horizon to fulfil this national mission. Even though research in the physical sciences and engineering accounts for only a tiny fraction of the federal budget, it is responsible for some of the last century's biggest breakthroughs and in many ways will determine whether America enjoys a prosperous 21st Century.
Why: Our mission is to support investment in basic research in the physical sciences and engineering. For many years, this investment has been falling to historic lows as a share of our gross domestic product, raising concerns that we're not investing an adequate share of today's resources to support the innovations of tomorrow.
Innovation is central to American jobs, competitiveness, and prosperity. After the Cold War, nations adopted market practices and through technology built a global economy that is more interconnected than we have ever known. In today's world, many nations compete very well on the basis of cost or quality. It is the ability to innovate - to create new high-value, high-margin goods and services - that sets a country, a state, or a region apart. Investment in basic research is a critical component of America's innovation system.
How: The Task Force is based in Washington, DC, working with the Administration and Congress to support the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Defense Department, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The budgets of these agencies support basic research at universities and laboratories across the country, and build the skills of our scientific workforce.
Although companies conduct some basic research, most of their investment is dedicated to applied research that builds on the insights of basic research to develop new products, processes, technologies, and services. Financial markets and shareholders limit the amount of high risk and longer term basic research conducted by companies.
Only the federal government has the resources and risk horizon to fulfil this national mission. Even though research in the physical sciences and engineering accounts for only a tiny fraction of the federal budget, it is responsible for some of the last century's biggest breakthroughs and in many ways will determine whether America enjoys a prosperous 21st Century.
