Make America Innovate Again

Technological innovation is at the core of America’s prosperity and global competitiveness. But in sectors ranging from energy to medicine to manufacturing, innovation is foundering under the Trump administration. Planned budget cuts, inept leadership, and backward-looking policies are stalling advances in critical fields. This could have a dire impact on US technological and economic leadership and Americans’ jobs and well-being.

Improving our national innovation system will require learning from models of innovation that have worked effectively to develop and commercialize new technologies. The Department of Defense offers one such model, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the most famed component of the Defense Department’s innovation system. By partnering with private industry and academia on mission-driven goals, DARPA pioneered some of today’s most vital technologies, including the internet, GPS, and autonomous vehicles.

Speakers included Joel Garreau, Lincoln Professor of Law, Culture and Values Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and Richard Van Atta, Adjunct Professor, Center for Security Studies, Georgetown University.