WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a full committee hearing today on Research Parks and Job Creation: Innovation Through Cooperation. 

Witness List: 

Panel I 

The Honorable Mr. John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Panel II

Dr. Charles W. Wessner, Director, Program on Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, National Research Council

Mr. Brian Darmody, President, Association of University Research Parks; Associate Vice President of Research and Economic Development, University of Maryland

Mr. Jonathan Sallet, Former Director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning at the Department of Commerce; Co-author of The Geography of Innovation: The Federal Government and the Growth of Regional Innovation Clusters published by the Center for American Progress 

Dr. Anthony Townsend, Research Director, Technology Horizons Program, Institute For The Future

Key Quotations from Today’s Hearing:

“These partnerships make innovation possible, sustainable, and valuable. They support the innovation we count on everyday to fight disease and advance public safety, to improve communications, ease transportation, foster new growth, and expand opportunity. It is time to redouble our efforts and make sure American research is commercialized right here on American soil.”

Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV 

“Research parks have a proven track record of fostering high tech innovation and creating quality jobs. Supporting the creation and expansion of these facilities is a smart investment for our economy as well as our global competiveness, and today’s hearing underscores this fact.”

Senator Mark Pryor, Chairman, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance

“These types of science parks are seen by many as an effective policy tool to realize larger and more visible returns on a nation’s investments in research and development by bringing together established technology companies, technology incubators, and world-class universities.”

The Honorable Mr. John Fernandez, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

“A concept that is now over sixty years old, research parks are widely believed to encourage greater collaboration among universities, research laboratories, and large and small companies, providing a means to help convert new ideas into the innovative technologies for the market.”

Dr. Charles W. Wessner, Director, Program on Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, National Research Council

“We believe we can harness our existing research and development infrastructure to create new jobs, new opportunities, and new companies with administrative reforms and relatively modest federal direct investments.”

Mr. Brian Darmody, President, Association of University Research Parks; Associate Vice President of Research and Economic Development, University of Maryland

“Some of our strongest international competitors, including Japan, South Korea, and many European countries, have invested in significant national cluster initiatives, directing great amounts of money and resources toward making innovation clusters the main focus of their economic and innovation policies. The irony is obvious—foreign innovation policymakers have come to the United States to study our successes and consult with our experts and yet the United States has conspicuously failed to embrace cluster initiatives as an explicit part of its own innovation policy.”

Mr. Jonathan Sallet, Former Director of the Office of Policy & Strategic Planning at the Department of Commerce; Co-author of “The Geography of Innovation: The Federal Government and the Growth of Regional Innovation Clusters” published by the Center for American Progress

“We should recognize that science parks are part of knowledge ecosystems - networks of people, organizations and ideas - that operate at a regional scale. We can't just build science parks in isolation and expect them to succeed.”

Dr. Anthony Townsend, Research Director, Technology Horizons Program, Institute For The Future

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