Pioneering Progress

An expert exploration of the foundations of America’s science and technology policies, and the dynamics of its innovation system. Why study science and technology policy? What role does innovation play, and how do we foster it? Economics tells us technological innovation drives economic growth and societal well-being, but technology is always a double-edge sword--great technological advances offer both opportunities and threats. In Bonvillian, a highly respected expert who has worked as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation in the federal government and a senior advisor in Congress, reviews a new theory of direct and indirect economic factors in the innovation system. He describes the innovation-based competitive and advanced manufacturing challenges now facing the U.S. economy, reviews comparative efforts in other nations, studies the varied models for how federal science and technology mission agencies are organized, and explores the growth of public-private partnership and industrial policy models as a way for science mission agencies to pursue mission agendas.

Autorentext
William B. Bonvillian is Lecturer at MIT and Senior Director for Special Projects at MIT’s Office of Digital Learning. He is the coauthor of five books on innovation policy. **He was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is a member of the Babbage Forum on industrial innovation policy at Cambridge University and the Polaris Advisory Council for the GAO’s science and technology policy program, and was previously Chair of the standing Committee on Science and Engineering Policy at the AAAS.