Video On Demand

U.S. Innovation Competitiveness Summit

September 13 – 16, 2021
Event Partners

Innovation Competitiveness Summit Overview

– Boosting regional innovation hubs
– Strengthening the foundations of intellectual property rights
– Maximizing efficiency in translating innovations to market

Foreword

America faces two great economic challenges in the coming years. The first concerns ensuring our country’s leadership role as a world-class innovator second to none. During the heyday of American innovation, this country was an undisputed global leader in science and technology. However, in the past decades, we have seen in- creasing challenges that have hindered our role as a generator of cutting-edge science and the translation of those innovations into products and services that save and improve human lives, as well as generate taxes, jobs, and exports. Meanwhile, other nations have upped their game tremendously and may be poised to overtake the United States as the world’s great innovators in the years ahead. We need to actively engage in improving our country’s competitiveness by boosting regional innovation hubs, strengthening the foundations of intellectual property (IP) rights, and maximizing efficiency in translating innovations to market.

There is a second, even more significant challenge. America is bifurcating into two economies. High-technology centers have become dynamic and creative, while more conventional economic activity in rural and rust-belt communities is falling further behind. America cannot succeed if we are to become a divided nation with prosperous professionals living in urban and high-tech hubs and the rest of the country lagging in “old industry” activities. We know there is innovation capacity in the heartland of America, and it requires intentional investment to equip regional hubs in Mid-America to catalyze this resource.

In addition, our legislative entities and our courts have steadily undermined the crucial role of protecting IP as an engine of innovation. Historically, America harnessed private ambitions to the public good by constructing a legal and regulatory architecture that protected IP. This framework has become disjointed in recent years, diluting incentives to invest in the necessary de-risking and product development processes necessary to move early-stage discoveries to market for public benefit.

The only solution to these problems is to dramatically boost invention, entrepreneurship, and IP education across the country. We must expand the innovation ecosystem to communities currently outside or on the fringes of the creation economy. Congress is currently considering important new legislation to boost federal support for innovation. There are hundreds of bills, many offered on a bipartisan basis. Most of the bills promote new federally funded programs and initiatives. Most of this is good, but it does not necessarily address the sweeping need to broaden the participation of regions and underrepresented peoples in the innovation ecosystem. Nor does the legislation meaningfully address the necessary components of reliable IP protection, without which many of these efforts would have less than the desired impact.

The purpose of the U.S. Innovation Competitiveness Summit will be to develop action-able strategies to address these challenges. We will identify opportunities to enhance the regional innovation ecosystems outside of America’s existing innovation hubs. We will focus on the crucial role of protecting IP as an engine of innovation. And we will share best practices for translating these innovations out of the academic research labs and into the market, for the betterment of society.

John Hamre, President & CEO, CSIS

Agenda

This week-long virtual conference will consist of a series of 90-minute sessions spaced throughout the week. Generally, there is a morning session starting at 11:00 a.m. (ET) and an afternoon session starting at 2:00 p.m. (ET). Log-in information will be sent to all registered participants. There is no fee associated with the summit. The conference is made possible by underwriting partners of the conference.


Monday, September 13

DAY 1: BOOSTING INNOVATION
Welcome from CSIS and University of Kentucky

 

 

Welcoming Remarks
John J. Hamre, President & CEO and Langone Chair in American Leadership at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Eli Capilouto, President of the University of Kentucky

Chairman’s Remarks
Dr. Walter Copan, Senior Adviser and Co-Founder, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS; Former Director of National Institute of Standards and Technology

Keynote Speech
The Honorable Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky

Panel Redistributing the Innovation Landscape: Creating New Regional Technology Hubs (Hosted by the University of Kentucky)

 

 

Moderator
Ian McClure, Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Impact, University of Kentucky

Panelists
Dr. Lisa Cassis, Vice President for Research, University of Kentucky; Dr. Betsy Cantwell, Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Arizona; Dr. Kevin Gardner, Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, University of Louisville; Erik Iverson, CEO, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; Almesha Campbell, Assistant Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Jackson State University ; Christina Orsi, Associate Vice President for Economic Development, University of Buffalo


Tuesday, September 14

DAY 2: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Day’s Keynote
Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser and Co-Founder, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS; Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Panel U.S. IP Policy and International Competitiveness (Sponsored by CSIS)

 

 

Moderator
Andrei Iancu, Senior Adviser and Co-founder, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS; Former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Speakers
Judge Paul Michel, Former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ; David Kappos, Former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Judge Kathleen O’Malley, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; Andrew Hirshfeld, Acting Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Commissioner for Patents

Panel Economic Benefits of IP Protection

 

 

Moderator
Kirti Gupta, Vice President of Technology & Economic Strategy, Qualcomm Inc. and Senior Adviser, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Speakers
Andrew Toole, Chief Economist, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Yann Meniere, Chief Economist, European Patent Office


Wednesday, September 15

DAY 3: TECH TRANSFER AND INNOVATION

Day’s Keynote
Katharine Ku, Licensing Advisor, Wilson Sonsini

Panel Technology Transfer Infrastructure Investment: The Time is Now (Hosted by AUTM)

 

 

Moderator
Orin Herskowitz, Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer, Columbia University

Speakers
Lesley Millar-Nicholson, Director, Technology Licensing Office and Director, Catalysts, Office of Strategic Alliances and Technology Transfer, MIT; Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer, University of Maryland and Former Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, U.S. Department of Commerce; Kelly Sexton, Associate Vice President for Research - Technology Transfer and Innovation Partnerships, University of Michigan; Steve Susalka, CEO, AUTM

Panel Economic Impact of Tech Transfer

 

 

Moderator
Kirti Gupta, Vice President of Technology & Economic Strategy, Qualcomm Inc. and Senior Adviser, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS

Speakers
Joseph Allen, Founder, Joseph Allen & Associates; Ashley Stevens, President, Focus IP Group, LLC; Lori Pressman, Independent Consultant


Thursday, September 16

DAY 4: EXPANDING FRONTIERS IN FUNDING INNOVATION (VENTURE CAPITAL AND FUTURE TECH)

Day’s Keynote
Conversation with CSIS president & CEO John Hamre with Steve Case, former CEO of America Online (AOL) and founder of Revolution LLC

Panel Reorienting Venture Capital to the United States: Back Where We Started

 

 

Moderator
Kathleen Gallagher, Executive Director, 5 Lakes Institute

Speakers
Bobby Franklin, President and CEO, National Venture Capital Association; Bill Slattery, Partner, Deerfield; Zachary Ellis, CEO and Managing Director, New Venture Capital Fund; Bryce Butler, Managing Director, Access Ventures

Panel Key Technology Focus Areas: Where’s Our Advantage and How Do We Capture It?

 

 

Moderator
Dr. Walter Copan, Senior Adviser and Co-founder, Renewing American Innovation, CSIS; Former Director of National Institute of Standards and Technology

Speakers
L. Rafael Reif, President, MIT; Erwin Gianchandani, National Science Foundation (NSF) Deputy Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE); Steve Binkley, Principal Deputy Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy; Matthew McMahon, Director, SEED, National Institutes of Health; Michael Kratsios, Managing Director, Scale AI and Former Chief Technology Officer of the United States

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Andrei Iancu
Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation
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Walter G. Copan
Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation
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Kirti Gupta
Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation
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John J. Hamre
CSIS President and CEO, and Langone Chair in American Leadership
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Orin Herskowitz

Orin Herskowitz

Former Senior Associate (Non-resident), Renewing American Innovation