Technology Transfer is America's Superpower
We live in an era of unprecedented global innovation and disruption. The rapid pace of development of new AI technologies, coupled with the much less-heralded but potentially even more disruptive advances in life science, puts us at a unique point in time when both the digital and physical worlds look to take a step forward in capability.
We also live in an era where the mythology of innovation is dominated by a few voices, mainly tilted towards a Silicon Valley "pattern match" of young men who drop out of school to raise money from a network of relatively secretive investors operating with little/no oversight, all for the purpose of building something new and harvesting the economic rewards.
I'm of the opinion that America's greatest strength is not the system where the previous example is the norm (for a select chosen few who fit the "pattern-match"), but rather our ecosystem of federally-funded labs and universities, which have ALREADY built many of these breakthrough innovations, but struggle to create the pathways to full commercialization. For this latter model, there is no "pattern"; the innovators are as diverse as the mosaic that makes up America.
I'd argue that much of the future is already here, is already invented, but needs creative assistance to come to market. American universities and labs have already developed "superheroes" in the form of our researchers, academics, and commercialization professionals. We just need to give them the tools and backing in this next era of industrialization.
In that vein, I'm sharing recommendations made to government agencies a few years back following my time in public service. I'm sure these need an update, so in a world that needs heroes, let's tip our hat to those who already walk amongst us.