Dean's Spring Lecture: Supporting U.S. Innovation and Prosperity in the 21st Century

April 9, 2008
1:30p -2:30p
Anderson Hall, nelson Auditorium
Speaker: Dr. William A. Wulf, President Emeritus, National Academy of Engineering, AT&T Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia
Host:

Abstract

In 2005 Congress asked the Academies “what does the U.S. need to do to prosper in the 21st Century?” The Academies response was a report entitled Rising Above the Gathering Storm. Together with Tom Freidman’s book and about a dozen reports from the likes of the Council on Competitiveness and the National Association of Manufacturers, this report identified innovation as a prime competitive strength of the U.S. and recommended ways to enhance that strength. After quickly reviewing the situation laid out in these reports, this talk will go on point out a number of other areas where the laws, policies, regulations and institutions that support innovation need to be rethought in terms of how they do (or don’t) match the needs of future technologies.