Innovation Policy on a Budget: Driving Innovation in a Time of Fiscal Constraint
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Robert Atkinson, Daniel Castro, Scott Andes, Stephen Ezell, Darrene Hackler, and Richard Bennett
September, 2010

The authors suggest that government investment in science, technology and education should not be decreased and that the U.S. government should actually increase direct funding or incentives via tax credits to research and design in these areas.

The authors understand that there are issues in doing so based on the current economy.  So they present 10 areas in which changes or new ideas could be implemented to allow for investment into innovation in times of tightened budgets.

These 10 categories are:

• Repurposing existing resources
• Leveraging non-federal resources
• Targeting procurement
• Tying federal funding to performance and innovation
• Restructuring tax policy in a revenue-neutral way to spur innovation
• Supporting innovation policies that pay for themselves
• Designing regulations that bolster, not inhibit, innovation
• Leveraging standing in the international community to better support U.S. innovation
• Using information to drive innovation and change
• Spurring productivity and innovation within government.

The authors believe that innovation brings long term growth and therefore investing in innovation will be a key way to improve the economy going forward.

You can read the full paper here.