Mark Muro, Policy Director at Brookings, discusses draft language for the reauthorization of America COMPETES Act, which includes new attention on regional clusters for boosting economic growth through innovation.
According to the current text of Sec. 503 of H.R. 5116, the draft legislation calls for the establishment in the Department of Commerce of a two-part federal initiative that would:
- Establish a regional innovation cluster RIC grants program to “encourage and support the development of regional innovation strategies”
- Create a research and information program on regional innovation strategies, to gather and disseminate best practices in regional innovation strategies and collect and make available data on U.S. clusters
Through these provisions, the federal government will make available competitive grants and information aimed at stimulating the collaborative interactions of firms and other institutions in regions to produce more commercial innovation and higher wage employment. Under the grant program, specifically, the government will award competitive grants to the best, bottom-up proposals for advancing cluster activities–whether it be for planning activities, technical assistance, or market analysis–in individual regions whether by governments, non-profits, public-private partnerships, and other entities.
Clusters COMPETE | The New Republic (via The Other Side of the Tracks)