Research and Innovation Policy : a Framework for Research-Based Industrial Policy in the United States

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Under the Clinton Administration, the U.S. government began to focus on economic policies to encourage commercial innovation and the research base to support it. The principle policy tool is public-private partnerships, through which government funding agencies link national laboratories, universities and private firms in pairs. The most explicit program for government support of research in commercial firms is the Advanced Technology Program of the U.S. Commerce Department. It has proved ideologically controversial in the U.S., but represents a first attempt to reduce the risks associated with the transition of a technology-based commercial idea to first market entry.