Bayh-Dole passed in a time just like this. In 1980 a candidate who was widely derided by the media unexpectedly won the presidency when voters concerned with the direction of the country decided to shake things up. At the time many pundits were writing that America’s best days were behind us and we should resign ourselves to no longer being the leading economic power. We had widespread unemployment, had lost our lead in traditional industries like cars, electronics and steel and it looked like just a matter of time until we lost the rest. Many of the “best and brightest” said our only hope was to copy the Japanese model where centralized government planners working with dominant companies confidently charted the economic future. They added that the days of “cowboy entrepreneurs” were over.