Innovation: Where Do the Candidates Stand?
From National Dialog of Entrepreneurship (Week of September 22 - 28, 2008)
With aftershocks continuing to reverberate from last week on Wall Street, the presidential election is likely to be a referendum on which candidate is best suited to deal with a challenging economic situation. Effective technology and innovation policies must be and will be an important part of any solution, and this is an area where McCain and Obama offer quite different perspectives and prescriptions. A new Information Technology and Innovation Policy Foundation report compares the two candidates on innovation and technology policies. The study tracks the candidates’ position in eleven key areas, including tax, trade, education and workforce policies. The report is full of detailed proposals, but also notes that McCain and Obama bring different philosophies to the table. McCain’s program seeks to create a favorable environment for private sector innovation. His primary preferred tools are tax reductions, tax credits, and limits on government regulation. By contrast, Obama is more open to deploying government as an active partner with business. He envisions expanded Federal funding for R&D and for targeted initiatives around clean energy and health information technology. Obama is also more willing to reevaluate and perhaps reorganize the Federal innovation policy system. McCain appears more willing to operate within the structure of existing Federal agencies and programs. As in many other policy areas, innovation and technology will be an arena where this year’s Presidential election offers voters a clear choice between two competing perspectives.
Download the September 2008 Information Technology and Innovation Policy Foundation report, Comparing the Candidates’ Technology and Innovation Policies, by Stephen J. Ezell and Robert D. Atkinson.
