OBAMA ADMINISTRATION INNOVATIVE SMALL BUSINESS JOB STIMULUS FINANCING PLAN AND PROGRAM RECOMMENDATIONS

As Submitted by Richard A. Bendis, President, Innovation America and Vice Chair NASVF

In a recent article1, we investigate the new American dynamic in regards to innovation.  We are particularly interested in the article « Creating a National Innovation Framework », published in « Science Progress », which proposed a new system of governance of innovation by the American federal government. However, we wanted to know more – so the Mission for Science and Technology (Boston Section) contacted one of the article’s authors, Mr. Richard Bendis, to ask him a few questions. The phone interview took place on October 27th, 2009.

 

The United States is falling behind its international competitors, and funding for innovation in business has hit a 12-year low.

That was the assessment by Richard A. Bendis, founder and CEO of Innovation America in Philadelphia, who cautioned an audience at St. John Fisher College on Friday that Switzerland and South Korea are among the countries overtaking the U.S. in innovation.

Bendis was the keynote speaker for the economic development conference called Eyes on the Future, which drew more than 1,400 people to the college in Pittsford.

MONCTON - Richard Bendis will tell an audience of entrepreneurs and officials in the knowledge industry today that growing business in a wired community is not just about technology.

The CEO of the Philadelphia-based national private-public intermediary Innovation America is trying to spur a mindset shift towards better using human connectivity to leverage funding and talent to build companies - on top of focusing on market-relevant products.

"The difference I talk about is from technology-based economic development to innovation-based economic development," Bendis said in an interview Monday, ahead of meetings with members of a Moncton-based high-tech incubator nearing its launch.

Bendis will give a morning address today at the Delta Beauséjour hotel to help kick off a two-day summit on intelligent communities. This summit, in part, came to be after Moncton and Fredericton were named to this year's top seven smart cities list by the Intelligent Community Forum, a New York-based think-tank devoted to assessing how broadband can grow jurisdictions.

Venture capital shortage may stunt innovation, [Bendis] says in Cedar Rapids

Young business enterprises need financial investors to help them grow.

But the recession has slashed early-stage angel and venture capital investment in the United States, threatening a generation of innovation and eliminating the chance of creating thousands of jobs.

Richard Bendis, president and chief executive officer of Innovation America in Philadelphia and keynote speaker for the Entrepreneurial Development Center Client Expo on Tuesday in Cedar Rapids, says the situation is dire and needs federal government action.

 

Richard Bendis moderated a panel for the National Academy of Science on "Facilitating Solar Innovation: Other Federal Agency Contributions" This event took place on 29 July 2009 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington DC. Click below for the draft of the agenda and further details.

 

Videos of Entire Session

Creating a National Innovation Framework

Building a Public-Private Support System to Encourage Innovation

By Richard Bendis & Ethan Byler

April 2009

Introduction and Summary

Science, technology, and innovation experts in the United States today almost unanimously agree that our country needs to launch a collective national effort to accelerate U.S. technological- and innovation-based growth. Amid a global economic downturn during which other nations are boosting their already significant public- and private-sector efforts to build more competitive, innovation-led economies, the United States stands almost alone in the world without a national innovation framework.

The result? Our country is beginning to lose its innovation leadership and national competitive advantage because we do not coordinate innovation policy across federal, state, municipal, and university boundaries and do not adequately support high-growth entrepreneurial companies. The federal government pours approximately $150 billion annually into basic scientific research but then largely fails to ensure this money results in the kind of broad-based economic growth that makes our products and services the most competitive on the planet.[1] This is a travesty because it is innovative small businesses that have generated between 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade as they grow and prosper, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.[2] These same companies also employ 30 percent of high-tech workers such as scientists, engineers, and information technology workers.

Article originally appeared in:  Federal Technoogy Watch vol. 7 no. 30 August 3rd, 2009.  For more information and to subscribe contact Neil McDonald ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).  Article reprinted with permission.

“I’m an innovation junkie!” Innovation America president & CEO Richard Bendis told the SURA Bridge Commercialization and Innovation Forum held July 15 at the Southeastern Universities Research Assn.’s (SURA) Washington DC office.

The undersigned leaders of Innovation and Entrepreneurs support groups wish to add our voices to the national call for reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR). We also believe that these programs should become a permanent part of the government’s technology investment portfolio for innovative and entrepreneurial small businesses that are and will continue to be the primary engine for economic job growth in the United States.