Reports

What Presidential Candidates Should be Talking About

A year from now, the 2016 presidential primaries will be over, and the nominees of both parties will need to focus in earnest on the broad interests of the American people, not just the parochial concerns of their respective bases. When that time comes, this memo provides the draft of a speech that we believe is critically important for the country to hear on technology and the economy. It is about how America can flourish again, and we invite anyone to borrow from it freely.

What Shapes America's Views on Science?

The American public disagrees sharply with the scientific community on many key issues related to science, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Disagreements span across science disciplines, reaching into climate change, evolution, food safety, space, animal research, biomedical engineering and government funding on science programs.

2015 State of Innovation

Innovation activity is at an all-time high. Using patents as a proxy for innovation, there were more unique inventions that were published applications or granted patents over the last year than ever before in the history of humankind. Another finding this year is that while patent activity has been on an upward climb, its ascent over the past year was the slowest since the global economic recession in 2009. This could be the result of myriad factors, from changes in legislation to economic, political, social or industry stresses.

An Innovation-Based Clean Energy Agenda For America

Addressing global climate change requires clean energy technologies that are cost- and performance competitive with fossil fuels without subsidies. Characterized by carbon prices, subsidies, and mandates, the dominant clean energy policy approaches in the United States and internationally are not likely to meet this goal. Only a cohesive and aggressive innovation strategy can produce the needed and rapid development of affordable clean energy options the entire world wants to purchase.

NMC Horizon Report: 2015

What are the challenges that we consider as solvable or difficult to overcome, and how can we strategize effective solutions? These questions and similar inquiries regarding technology adoption and transforming teaching and learning steered the collaborative research and discussions of a body of 56 experts to produce the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 K-12 Edition, in partnership with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). The NMC Horizon Report series charts the five-year horizon for the impact of emerging technologies in school communities across the globe.

2015 Green Innovation Index

The United States ranks as among the world's top countries in clean tech investments, patents, renewable energy generation and electric vehicle (EV) adoption. At the same time it is among the world's worst for energy consumption and emissions. Over the last two decades, however, the U.S. has become more energy productive, using less energy per dollar of GDP generated.

Accelerating Data Innovation: A Legislative Agenda for Congress

Data is increasingly vital to both growing the economy and solving important social problems, and Congress has many opportunities to pave the way for more use of data in the public and private sectors. This report lays out twelve concrete steps Congress can take in 2015 to accelerate data innovation in the United States.

Economic Value of College Majors

Science, technology, engineering and math – or STEM – majors on average earned $43,000 annually at the entry level, compared with $41,000 for health majors and $29,000 for arts, humanities and liberal arts majors. But by midcareer – when the college graduates are between 25 and 29 years old – STEM majors were significantly out-earning other majors, at $76,000 annually. Business and health majors followed at $67,000 and $65,000 a year, respectively. On average, entry-level jobs that require a bachelor's degree pay $33,000 annually, and $61,000 by midcareer.

Using Innovation and Technology to Improve City Services

In this report, Professor Greenberg examines a dozen cities across the United States that have award-winning reputations for using innovation and technology to improve the services they provide to their residents. She explores a variety of success factors associated with effective service delivery at the local level, including:

Why Declining Investment in Basic Research Threatens a U.S. Innovation Deficit

Last year was a notable one for scientific achievements: In 2014, European researchers discovered a fundamental new particle that sheds light on the origins of the universe, and the European Space Agency successfully landed the first spacecraft on a comet. Chinese researchers, meanwhile, developed the world’s fastest supercomputer, and uncovered new ways to meet global food demand.