“Federal Technology Watch” Features Interview With Council President

The editor of Federal Technology Watch recently caught up with Council on Competitiveness president Deborah L. Wince-Smith and discussed some of the Council’s activities and future plans. Brazil provided the starting point for the discussion. An edited version of the conversation follows:

Federal Technology Watch (FTW): Brazil, an important economic partner for the U.S., is also a current focus of the Council. Can you explain why?

Deborah L. Wince-Smith (DWS): The Council has a long-standing strategic partnership with our sister organization, the Brazilian Competitiveness Movement (MBC) and the Brazilian government’s Agency for Industrial Investment (ABDI), which is focused on foreign investment in and by Brazil, and at the technology frontiers. During our growing collaboration, the Council and our Brazilian partners recognized the importance of innovation in helping to create high-value products and services, and new and non-commodity products that could demand premiums in the global marketplace. So, in 2007, we convened the first U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit, which brought together people from the Council, MBC, leading CEOs, university presidents as well as top government officials from both countries. Sessions dealt with the drivers of innovation, enabling conditions and regulatory framework, intellectual property, investment strategies, etc. It also explored the barriers—from S&T talent, university-industry-government collaboration, and the importance of industry investments in research, rather than just relying on government—that exist. It was a broad but comprehensive program.

Out of that dialogue came a ‘call to action’ of principles and a road map for deepening our cooperation and partnership in these areas that would not only accelerate innovation growth of both countries, but could be a model, not just for the Americas, but globally. The U.S. has strategic partnerships across many fronts. Major countries in the Americas have diverse populations and tremendous natural resources, with the U.S. being the world’s largest agricultural producer and Brazil being the second largest. We both have huge impact. And Brazil’s President [Luiz] Lula was one of the first foreign leaders to meet with President Obama. That sends a very powerful message in the Americas.

But there are still challenges because, in spite of the enormous trade between us, we don’t have a bilateral investment treaty. That’s amazing! And large Brazilian enterprises are increasingly investing in and acquiring U.S. companies. For example, a major Brazilian company, a beef producer, has acquired the largest US beef processor. There’s a very big U.S. presence in Brazil, too. John Deere, Caterpillar, Intel, IBM and Cisco are all active there as well as pharmaceutical companies, both in manufacturing and services. So it’s a very important economic relationship also for political and strategic reasons. And I’ve not mentioned energy! The U.S. and Brazil are two of the largest biofuel producers. Brazil is working on major projects on a distribution network for biofuels that can also be helpful for U.S. Its Amazon basin is the largest carbon sink in the world!

Going forward, the Council is committed to hold the second U.S.-Brazil Innovation Summit in 2010, which will be hosted by Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Over the course of the next year, we’re holding a series of U.S.-Brazil innovation labs, supported by the Department of Energy (DOE). The first lab is being held in Porto Alegre by the Industrial Confederation of Rio Grande do Sul this month (April 22-23). The second will be May 12 at the Univ. of Illinois- Urbana. The third will be hosted by the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colo.

FTW: The Council seems to get good ‘feedback’ from its international strategic partners and counterparts about their activities, as they mature, as a result of the continuity of these contacts.

DWS: On the broader international front, these contacts may stimulate partnerships and relationships. For example, we’re excited that the deputy prime minister of Ireland is visiting the Council this month. She wants to come and talk about our collaboration with Ireland that we launched in 2003. We’ve lots of partnerships and relationships with different counterparts to the Council all over the world, as well as foreign government entities. But we’re still working on the broader drivers of innovation. If we’re all going to collaborate and compete, we need to understand how together we can work on global problems and competitiveness and job creation in a global recession. Everybody’s global growth is good for the future of the world. We’re moving to forge a much more strategic and integrated collaboration among these different competitiveness councils and our bilateral partnerships. I recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the new National Council for Competitiveness in Saudi Arabia. I’ve signed other MOUs with Columbia, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, Greece and the Nordic countries. Each is with a council or entity with whom we can share practices and then identify a series of common issues that we might want to work on together. It’s a powerful incentive.

FTW: If the U.S. R&D tax credit becomes a permanent federal measure, do you think more high-tech companies will want to use it because of the global economic crisis?

DWS: Yes. I think so. But the scary thing about the economic situation is when it moves down into the supplier base, and big companies restrict their inventories. If that situation kept moving down the supply chain, it could have a serious affect.

FTW: Some impressive results have been achieved by states which have offered better R&D tax credit measures than the federal one to attract or spur the growth of their high-tech companies.

DWS: I agree. It’s also important not to raise taxes or introduce regulations that stifle or curtail the ability of small, medium or large businesses to grow and create wealth and create or retain jobs that our country depends upon. That’s at the heart of competitiveness.

FTW: Energy is an important part of the Council’s agenda. Have you met yet with new Energy Secretary Steven Chu?

DWS: Yes. I recently had the honor and privilege to be on a panel with him before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. It may have been the first occasion at which he testified after being confirmed. His strategy, and President Obama’s, for jump starting and leading in energy transformation, is again at the heart of the Council’s agenda, together with all the innovation activities that we need to do. I think that linking the energy, environment and climate change nexus is competitiveness, and that’s the real sweet spot of the Council. Our summit on Sept. 23-24 will have DOE as our strategic partner.

FTW: How about the Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and SBA administrator Karen Mills?

DWS: Yes. Absolutely. And John Holdren, the president’s science advisor, too. We’re also excited about the prospects of the appointment of a new federal chief technology officer as well as staffing up a new Office of Science and Technology Policy.