As the U.S. presidential candidates lay out competing
visions for the country, I have been thinking about a topic they have not yet
discussed in detail: what political leadership can do to accelerate innovation.
Innovation is the reason our lives have improved over the last century.
From electricity and cars to medicine and planes, innovation
has made the world better. Today, we are far more productive because of the IT
revolution. The most successful economies are driven by innovative industries
that evolve to meet the needs of a changing world.
From the advances that put a computer on every desk to the
discoveries that led to lifesaving vaccines, major innovations are the result
of both government investments in basic research and the private-sector creativity
and investments that turn them into transformative products. I’ve heard some
people argue that life-changing innovations come exclusively from the private
sector.
But innovation starts with government support for the
research labs and universities working on new insights that entrepreneurs can
turn into companies that change the world. The public sector’s investments
unlock the private sector’s ingenuity. I was lucky enough to be a student when
computers came along in the 1960s. At first they were very expensive, so it was
hard to get access to them. But the twin miracles of the microchip revolution
and the internet—both made possible by U.S. government research—completely
changed that. It’s no wonder that today most of the leading hardware and software
companies are based in the U.S.
Accelerating innovation requires both political leadership
and private sector leadership. As U.S. voters decide which candidates they want
to elect to fill national, state, and local offices, and as many countries
around the world undergo similar political transitions, I think we should
consider what kind of leaders can drive the innovations we need.
The best leaders have the ability to do both the urgent
things that demand attention today and at the same time lay the groundwork for
innovation that will pay dividends for decades. As a country and around the
world, we confront a wide array of urgent issues that our leaders must
address—from terrorism to job creation to migration.
Our next president will be part of a new group of global
leaders who will wrestle with these urgent problems. Those leaders can either
prioritize alleviating poverty, making everyone healthier, and accelerating
economic growth—or they can let progress stall.
The key to prioritizing progress is support for innovation.
When we innovate, we create millions of jobs, we build the companies that lead
the world, we are healthier, and we make our lives more productive. And these
benefits transcend borders, powering improvements in lives around the world.
Our global culture of innovation has been most successful at those moments when
science, technology, and great leadership come together to create miracles that
improve modern life.
I believe we are in
one of those moments. One of the most indelible examples of a world leader
unleashing innovation from both public and private sectors came in 1961 when
President John F. Kennedy spoke to the U.S. Congress and challenged the country
to put a man on the moon within the decade.
That speech came at a time of cultural and political
turmoil, when national and economic security dominated the headlines. President
Kennedy believed looking to the skies would inspire the country dream big and
accomplish huge things. That speech didn’t just launch humankind on a
successful journey to the moon. It also inspired America to build a satellite
network that changed the way we communicate across the globe and produced new
forms of weather mapping which made farmers far more productive.
In the face of fear,
President Kennedy successfully summoned our country to harness American
ingenuity and advance human progress. It’s important to remember what made the
moonshot the moonshot—that is, what transforms political rhetoric into
game-changing breakthroughs. A moonshot challenge requires a clear, measurable
objective that captures the imagination of the nation and fundamentally changes
how we view what’s possible. And it requires marshaling the resources and
intellect of both the public and private sectors.
When we do that, we chart a course for a future that is
safer, healthier, and stronger. Because we are at a pivotal moment when the
conditions are ripe for transformative innovations, there are many important
things this new group of national leaders—including whoever is elected in the U.S.
in November—can accomplish over the next decade. There are four objectives I
think we should prioritize: 1. Provide everyone on earth with affordable energy
without contributing to climate change.
2. Develop a vaccine for HIV and a cure for neurodegenerative
diseases.
3. Protect the world from future health epidemics, which
might be more infectious than Ebola and more deadly than Zika.
4. Give every student and teacher new tools so all students
get a world-class education. Provide everyone on earth with affordable energy
without contributing to climate change There is enormous potential to develop
technologies that will make energy cheaper and reduce our energy imports
without contributing to climate change or air pollution.
In the next eight years, we could start the transition to a
new type of clean fuel that doesn’t emit carbon, deploy batteries that let
electric cars run far longer on a single charge, and produce dramatic drops in
the total cost of renewables.
Last year, the U.S. and 20 other countries committed to
doubling their energy R&D budgets, and 28 investors pledged to invest in
the output of that research. This is only the start. By increasing government
support for clean-energy research, presidents and prime ministers could attract
more private investors to the field.
As early-stage ideas progress, private capital will pour in
to build the companies that will deliver those ideas to market. Develop a
vaccine for HIV and a cure for neurodegenerative diseases With the right
leadership and investments over the next decade, we can discover and deliver a
vaccine for HIV.
Many have forgotten
about the scourge of AIDS, treating it like a disease that can be managed
instead of the deadly virus that kills more than 1 million people worldwide
every year. Based on recent progress, I believe world leaders could help make
an effective AIDS vaccine a reality within the next decade. And with a vaccine,
we would be on the path to ending the disease altogether. We can also make
tremendous progress on ending neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.
These diseases are devastating for the people and families
that they affect. They are also huge drivers of out- of-control health care
costs, which deplete government budgets that could be used for other critical
functions.
SOURCE: Vangaurdngr
