Restoring the Innovative Edge

Considerable evidence indicates that the U.S. is falling behind when it comes to innovation. In part, this shift stems from the globalization of research and the advancement of other nations. But, it also arises from a widespread failure to adapt to the competitive environment generated by the evolution of science and technology.

The objective of this book is to provide possible remedies for eight key obstacles that the U.S. faces in restoring its innovative edge. Understanding that these remedies are complex, each chapter also discusses the dilemmas and impediments that make change a challenge. Unlike other books that suggest simple fixes to the U.S. innovation crisis, this book argues that the management of innovation requires multiple interventions at four different levels: in research teams, organizations, economic and non-economic sectors, and society at large.

Restoring the Innovative Edge offers specific recommendations for new forms of data collection, fresh ideas about cooperation between the public and the private sectors in manufacturing research, and a policy evaluation model that measures technical progress—and obstacles to it—in real time. Moreover, the book's multi-level perspective allows for the integration of a number of specialties within Sociology and Management around the theme of a new socio-economic paradigm, built on ideas of evolution and failed evolution.

Jerald Hage is Director of the Center for Innovation, University of Maryland. He started studying organizational innovation in the 1960s, and since then has also worked on institutional analysis in health, education, and welfare—primarily with comparative studies of Europe. Hage has authored or co-authored 16 books and over 100 papers. Presently he is directing two major research projects funded the National Science Foundation, as well as a project for the STAR division of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.