Power of Place


The Power of Place

A National Strategy for Building America’s Communities of Innovation
Association of University Research Parks
Innovation fuels a healthy economy and provides for future growth. For
decades, the United States has led the world in innovation that has
yielded technological and scientific advances, created countless jobs,
enhanced the nation’s real and intellectual capital, and improved the lives
and livelihoods of people around the world. Today, however, the United
States is losing that lead. In these difficult times, more attention, not less,
needs to be given to creating a climate where innovators can flourish—
and, more than that, places where they can do so. In this work, the
federal government has a critically important role.
AURP recommends:
•the establishment of American Innovation Zones, a nationwide
network of research parks, science and technology incubators,
universities, federal laboratories, and other entities via a program
of federal grants, tax incentives, and other instruments in collaboration
with private-sector groups and other public agencies;
•enactment of the Federal Innovation Zone Partnership Program;
•reform of federal tax provisions for facilities funded by taxexempt
bonds to allow greater flexibility in intellectual-property
transfers;
•approval of S. 1373, which amends the Stevenson-Wydler Act to
authorize grants for the development of feasibility studies and
plans for building and expanding science parks;
•reauthorization of the Research and Development Tax Credit and
expansion of its reach to include American Innovation Zones;
•creation of a foundation for federal laboratories to facilitate
technology transfer, commercialization, and related work;
•renewed funding for RaDIUS, a database of research grants
funded by the federal government;
•restructuring of the H-1B visa cap for foreign researchers to allow
the enhanced recruitment and retention of highly skilled researchers
and technicians from other countries; and support for
“soft-landing” centers to assist international knowledge workers
in relocating to the United States and becoming familiar with its
laws, cultural norms, language, and related matters;
•full funding of the America COMPETES Act, which authorizes
substantial federal investment in innovative research.
 
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