In the derailed train wreck that has come to represent our economy of the past couple of years, a logical first step to getting our economical “train” back on track to growth would seem to be that of damage control not innovation and invention. However, this reasoning proves to be a bit off the mark as shown by a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland which found that “innovation, measured by patents per capita, was the most important factor in determining which state economies had grown the fastest” in the past 75 years.
On July 13, National Journal held its Innovation Works Conference featuring a discussion titled “Foreshadowing the Future” with special guests Robert Atkinson, President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Ceci Connolly, Senior Adviser, McKinsey Center for Health Reform, Ronald A. Klain, President, Case Holdings, Dr. Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, United States Department of Energy, and Simon J. Tripp, Senior Director of Technology Partnership Practice, Battelle. The dialogue centered upon the top 5 innovation s that are expected to drive economic growth in the next 10 years.
The wireless 4G network, presented by Atkinson, looks to be implemented sooner rather than later, building on the current 3G network by creating a mass array of new applications and services that will spur new jobs and economic growth. The 4G network looks to dive into innovative ideas such as equipping bridges with sensors that would allow external monitoring of the structures by engineers. Using smartphones as a segway, Ceci Connolly introduced the concept of “Doc-in-a-Phone,” also known as mobile health care. This sort of technology has already begun to revolutionize the entire field by allowing increased communication between doctor and patient and even medical diagnosis.
Dr. Arun Majumdar and Ronald A. Klain took to the stage to bring forth intertwining ideas in which Majumdar shed light into the catalysis of energy innovation and specifically projects under ARPA-E. Klain expanded on this topic by discussing the innovations in the transportation sector, especially that of the electric car, which would not only create jobs and American growth but also take the U.S. out of the era of “Ricky Ricardo” dominated by internal combustion cars and buses. Finally, Simon J. Tripp discussed the expansion and advancement in the genomics field which would in turn find application in major markets such as agriculture and medicine.
While innovative ideas, such as the ones presented by the panel in National Journal’s Innovation Works Conference, have proven to be vast and varied they all point to one common goal, U.S. economic growth and job creation.
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