This chapter describes the complex, lengthy, and often unpredictable pathways that lead from research to innovations that yield economic and other benefits for U.S. We focus on this goal not only because innovative technologies are profitable in and of themselves, but also because focusing on this goal enables one to understand how the research enterprise advances national goals in general. A framework for supporting this goal through a greater understanding of the system of research is described in Chapter 6. In exploring how the United States might enhance the economic benefits gained from science, we focus on one goal in particular: for the United States to be at the forefront of global competition for new technologies and other innovations. Although the desired outputs are numerous, Congress and others have placed particular emphasis on economic gains, so we give special attention to those contributions here, noting that these gains depend on numerous factors that cannot easily be predicted or controlled, such as the widespread adoption of an innovation. The committeeвЂ™s implicit charge for this study was to identify ways of increasing the output of the U.S. This flow is supported in part by worldwide networks of researchers that advance research and enable access to a vast stock of knowledge and technological approaches offering opportunities for commercialization. The international flow of people and ideas plays an increasingly important role in the U.S.As discussed inД¬hapter 6, government support for such research may be essential to overcome this barrier to the development of innovations.

The translation of research discoveries into economically and socially viable innovations frequently is subject to a time lag that in many cases reflects the often prohibitive cost and risk associated with proof-of-concept research.Metrics for evaluating and policies for supporting the translation of university research into industrial innovations need to be varied and flexible to reflect the diversity of academic institutions and firms and their interactions.To maintain this level of preparedness, government needs to support world-class basic research in all major areas of science. Maintaining a level of preparedness that will allow America to benefit from discoveries made elsewhere is essential.It is equally impossible to predict all the types of research knowledge that will contribute to a future transformative innovation. It is impossible to predict all of the outcomes or benefits to which basic research might lead.The benefits of scientific research-particularly basic research-include not only innovation but also contributions to a trained workforce and to the infrastructure that enables further research and the use of scientific discoveries.Understanding the Pathways from Research to Innovation

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