Ed. Note: This week the Obama Administration celebrating America’s entrepreneurs and small businesses as part of National Entrepreneurship Week. Join Commerce Secretary Gary Locke this Friday at 1 p.m. for a live chat on entrepreneurship and innovation on WhiteHouse.gov/live.
Innovation always has and always will be America’s global competitive advantage. Our ability to create products and services that help people around the world live healthier, wealthier and more productive lives was a big reason why the 20th century was the American century.
Innovation is how we built the strongest middle class the world had ever seen. And it’s a big part of how we’re going to rebuild the American middle class here in the 21st-century.
It begins with a commitment to research and development. The president’s proposed 2011 budget, while freezing domestic discretionary spending overall, includes a six percent increase for R&D, with special attention given to emerging sectors like 21st century infrastructure and manufacturing, clean energy and biotechnology.
But R&D is only the first step in the innovation process. The next step is to find an entrepreneur to take that kernel of an idea or invention and turn it into a new product or a new business.
Fonte: White House