Legislation News
National Innovation Act Introduced
December 15, 2005
Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today introduced comprehensive bipartisan legislation that will ensure the United States remains the lead in innovation, research and development and the training of scientists and engineers. The National Innovation Act, which is based on “Innovate America,” The Council on Competitiveness’ National Innovation Initiative Report, focuses on three primary areas of importance to maintaining and improving United States’ innovation in the 21st Century: research investment, increasing science and technology talent and developing an innovation infrastructure.
Joining Ensign and Lieberman as original co-sponsors of the bill were Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), George Allen (R-VA), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Mike Dewine (R-OH), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Gordon Smith (R-OR).
“The goal of our legislation is to ensure America’s global role as a leader in technological innovation and to tap into the vast expertise and talent at our disposal,” Ensign said. “Innovation fosters new ideas and technology which leads to a more prosperous future. I’m proud to be a part of this effort and grateful for my colleagues’ enthusiastic support.”
“The number of jobs requiring technical training is growing at five times the rate of other occupations,” Lieberman said. “However, the average number of students studying and entering these fields is declining and the average age of the U.S. science and engineering workforce is rising. Our legislation will significantly increase federal support for graduate fellowship and traineeship programs in science, math, and engineering fields in order to attract more students to these fields and to create a more competitive and innovative American workforce.”
“I want the United States to be the world capitol for innovation,” Allen said. The National Innovation Act is a comprehensive initiative investing, incenting, and encouraging Americans into the fields of engineering, science, and technology. I aim to provide strong leadership to motivate Americans to these essential goals for America’s standard of living, national security, and opportunity for all.”
“This bill is critical to fostering cutting edge innovations for Wisconsin manufacturers and keeping America at the head of the pack in research and development,” Kohl said.
"China and India alone graduate 6.4 million from college each year and over 950,000 engineers. The United States turns out 1.3 million college graduates and 70,000 engineers. We live in a global society, and by spurring research and innovation in the U.S., we are also insuring that our companies stay competitive internationally and prosper domestically," Lugar said.
“It’s essential that we invest in the next generation of scientists so we can continue to be world leaders in these fields – and that’s exactly what the National Innovation Act aims to do,” Nelson said.
Features of the bill include:
• Establishes the President’s Council on Innovation to develop a comprehensive agenda to promote innovation in the public and private sectors.
• Establishes the Innovation Acceleration Grants Program which encourages federal agencies funding research in science and technology to allocate 3% of their Research and Development (R&D) budgets to grants directed toward high-risk frontier research.
• Increases the national commitment to basic research by nearly doubling research funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) by FY 2011.
• Makes permanent the Research and Experimentation (R&E) tax credit with modifications expanding eligibility for incentives to a greater number of firms.
• Expands existing educational programs in the physical sciences and engineering by increasing funding for NSF graduate research fellowship programs as well as Department of Defense science and engineering scholarship programs.
• Authorizes the Department of Defense to create a competitive traineeship program for undergraduate and graduate students in defense science and engineering that focuses on multidisciplinary learning and innovation-oriented studies.
• Authorizes funding for new and existing Professional Science Master’s Degree Programs to increase the number of qualified scientists and engineers entering the workforce.
• Authorizes the Department of Commerce to promote the development and implementation of state-of-the art advanced manufacturing systems and to support up to three Pilot Test Beds of Excellence for such systems.
• Encourages the development of regional clusters (”hot spots”) of technology innovation throughout the United States.
• Empowers the Department of Defense to identify and accelerate the transition of advanced manufacturing technologies and processes that will improve productivity of the defense manufacturing base.
Summary of the legislation. (Word Document)
List of quotes from supporters of the legislation. (Word Document)
Section by section breakdown of the legislation. (Word Document)
Statements of support for the National Innovation Act of 2005:
American Mathematical Society (PDF)
Association of American Universities (Word Document)
Business Roundtable (Word Document)
Council of Graduate Schools (Word Document)
IBM (Word Document)
TechNet (PDF)
Other statements of support have come from: American Chemical Society
ASTRA (Alliance for Science & Technology Research in America)
Athena Alliance
Bell South
Center for Accelerating Innovation
Computing Research Association
Council on Competitiveness
Council of Scientific Society Presidents
Electronic Industries Alliance
Federation of American Scientists
Georgia Institute of Technology
Hewlett Packard
IEEEE-USA
Johns Hopkins University
Nuclear Energy Institute
Progressive Policy Institute
Semiconductor Industry Association
SEMI North America
University of California
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