1081. Opening Up Military Innovation: Effects of Bottom‐Up Reforms to U.S. Defense Research
- Author:
- Sabrina Howell, Jason Rathje, John Van Reenen, and Jun Wong
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The U.S. economy’s productivity growth has slowed down in recent decades. This slowdown appears due in part to declining innovation, especially among high‐growth new firms, making the design of innovation incentives particularly important. One overlooked but crucial decision a government or private‐sector research funder must consider is whether to take a centralized top‐down approach, tightly specifying the desired innovation, or a more open bottom‐up approach, giving more latitude to firms to define their research proposals. The bottom‐up approach may be useful if the research funder is uncertain about what opportunities exist. We compare these two strategies by studying a major reform to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program at the U.S. Air Force.
- Topic:
- Reform, Economy, Research, Innovation, Defense Industry, and Military
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America