TDEP-04 Technology Policy

Science and technology - and the ability to translate this knowledge into products and services that meet customer needs - have a pervasive impact on the U.S. economy and our standard of living. Technological innovation fuels higher productivity and sustained economic growth.

Government, industry and academia play integrally related and irreplaceable roles in the technology process. Improved interaction among these groups will foster an environment that is more conducive to the creation, application and protection of technology. The promotion of free market principles will help create and maintain the necessary conditions in which private sector innovation and academic excellence can flourish to the greatest extent possible.

Academia's role is to educate our nation's current and future scientific, technical and managerial workforce and to expand the frontiers of knowledge through conducting basic research. Industry's role is to perform research and development and create and transform technology into products and processes that respond to today's marketplace and guide the evolution of the future marketplace. As part of this effort, industry must develop the processes critical to rapid product evolution. Because science and technology resources so directly affect the ability to compete, it is critical that industry, government and academia unite behind a common set of goals.

Industry and government must work together to ensure that policies to promote the flow of commerce co-exist with policies to protect consumers, to the benefit of all Americans. National policymakers should also recognize that as innovations in technology increase, the need for technology-neutral policies also increases. Policymakers and industry must work together to ensure that proposed laws and regulations do not benefit one sector to the detriment of any other sector.

America's strength is its scientific and technological capabilities, which by definition are long-term endeavors. Education, research, innovation, development and a skilled workforce to perform these functions require a long-term commitment of human and capital resources. Industry, government and academia should coordinate efforts to identify the critical, emerging and long-range national problems and needs where science and technology play a role.
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4.01. National Technology Policies

The National Association of Manufacturers supports national technology policies based on the close cooperation, interaction and support of industry, government and academia. These policies should:

Create an overall national policy environment to ensure the leadership of the United States in technology and industrial competitiveness. The keystone of this environment is incentives for continued innovation.

Raise public and congressional awareness of the importance of sustained technological development and application to the nation's economic and social well-being. At the same time, public awareness of manufacturing's position as the bedrock of this country's economic, political, military and technological strength also must be reinforced.

Encourage decision-makers in government, industry, academia and other economic sectors to pursue basic and long-term research activities. The necessary foundation of this long-term orientation is simplicity and stability in governmental policies. If long-term technological needs are to be met, it is imperative that a high and steady level of federal support be provided for science, education and basic research.

4.02. The Importance of Technology and Innovation

It is critically important to educate policymakers and the general public on the importance of technology and innovation to our economic competitiveness and the critical role of manufacturing. In particular, we must work together to raise the level of national public awareness of the vital role played by science and technology in increasing U.S. competitiveness and our social and economic well-being.

To accomplish this task, existing institutions responsible for technology, science, intellectual property and R&D programs and priorities must be adequately funded and competently staffed. Federal agencies need to make the best use of their resources and to coordinate their science and technology programs industry with a view toward meeting national needs and priorities.

4.02a. Promoting New Technologies

National policymakers should be aware that preferences, restrictions, mandates or bans on technologies, substances or services can hamper the ability of manufacturers to innovate, stifle emerging technologies, unnecessarily hinder competition or even supplant the marketplace by picking "winners and losers." The NAM is strongly supportive of the proposition that good public policy will seek to ban or restrict illegal behavior, as opposed to banning technologies that have substantially beneficial applications, but may be used for illicit purposes. In fact, the use of technology may be the solution to many of the public policy challenges that policymakers face.

4.02b. Economic Incentives for R&D

Domestic economic policies can have a significant positive impact on innovation. Specifically, the NAM believes the following principles would further R&D and technological innovation:

Promote policies that encourage basic research, risk-taking, entrepreneurship and the investment of venture capital as important mechanisms for technological innovation. The need to reduce the costs of capital in this country, as compared with those of our competitors, must also be recognized.

Establish a permanent and robust tax policy that provides adequate incentives for capital investment, research, development and innovation, thereby enabling corporations to make decisions based on economic - rather than tax - considerations.

4.02c. Regulation and Industrial Competitiveness

In order to promote innovation and economic competitiveness, the NAM supports the following general regulatory principles:

Give industry self-regulation an opportunity to develop in new areas as the first alternative to government regulation.

Promote flexible and cooperative approaches involving dialogue among industry, academia, government, workers and consumers when developing new regulations.

Base regulations on sound science, principles of good public policy and expert technological advice, taking into account the impact of proposed regulations on innovation, productivity and American competitiveness. The government should encourage the use of voluntary, industry-developed consensus standards when appropriate, but should not mandate technologies. Standards processes should not be used as trade barriers to open competition.

Health, safety and environmental regulation of new products or technologies should seek to minimize risk while recognizing that risk is inherent to innovation and cannot be entirely eliminated.

4.02d. Improved Technology Transfer

The federal laboratory system of the United States is one of our most prized technology resources, yet its potential has yet to be fully tapped. For too long, the innovations developed in these laboratories were unavailable to, or unused by, industry.

Federally funded R&D should advance the competitive and security needs of the nation, and should be considered on its technical merits. Generic manufacturing R&D efforts, focused on base-building technologies and processes, should be promoted. As noted above, declassification and transfer of government-developed technologies to the private sector should be expedited whenever possible. The federal government should also assist not control state and local governments in their efforts to promote local technology development.

Technology transfer programs offer American taxpayers an excellent return on their investment as research facilities funded by tax-payer dollars are beneficial to the U.S. economy. The NAM is highly supportive of programs that provide incentives for U.S. businesses, schools and laboratories to hasten the transfer of technology into the commercial sector, as improved mechanisms for technology transfer and cooperative partnerships between industry, government and academia will benefit all three sectors and the country and the country as a whole.

4.02e. Encouragement of Research and Development

Research and development are fundamental to the health and vitality of our nation's industrial and economic progress. Private sector R&D, especially in the applied sciences and process technologies, needs to be strongly supported. Policymakers also should be encouraged to support a permanent, strengthened R&D tax credit. The partnership of research at the academic level and application expertise in industry should be encouraged. The federal government's major role in initiating and funding research and development should be to provide support for science, engineering and infrastructure. In general, this support should be directed toward solving national problems beyond the capabilities of the private sector, or when the federal government is the primary beneficiary of such research.

Much of the basic research directed at expanding our science and engineering knowledge base is conducted in universities. This work requires significant government support, which should be continued and regularly reviewed for its adequacy. Furthermore, in the interests of establishing funding stability for longer-term research projects, multiyear authorizations should be established wherever feasible. Support for basic research is integral for our nation's continued competitiveness and the future of our innovation economy. Policymakers' goals should include the doubling of the federal government's investment in basic research within the next 10 years.

4.02f. High-Quality Education, Training and Retention for a 21st Century Workforce

The extent and quality of education in mathematics and the sciences at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels is a matter of national concern. The situation is aggravated by shortages in the pool of interested students and qualified school teachers in mathematics and the sciences, as well as of faculty in universities and colleges, especially in many of the engineering disciplines.

The revitalization of U.S. manufacturing and the continued growth of high-technology industries are dependent on the availability of high-quality personnel, especially in the scientific and technical disciplines. The NAM supports strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and student achievement in our nation's schools, as skills learned through STEM education are key to the future of our nation's manufacturing workforce. Government, academia and industry need to intensify cooperation in programs to encourage the highest quality scientific and technological education at the pre-college level and promote higher education in the sciences, particularly in engineering. In strengthening our domestic workforce, the NAM supports polices that allow corporations to recruit, develop and retain the best foreign talent for U.S. industry.
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4.03. Protection of Intellectual Property Rights

Innovation is one of our greatest strengths and a major contributor to economic growth and industrial competitiveness. For this reason, it is important for policymakers both to nurture the creation and application of technology and vigorously protect intellectual property, as the creation of technology is the creation of intellectual property. Without strong protection, the incentives for future innovation-directed R&D will be inhibited.

The NAM supports a coordinated policy that strengthens the protection of intellectual property rights afforded by both domestic laws and international agreements and includes strong coordination and oversight by the governmental agencies tasked with protecting our nation's intellectual property. U.S. policy should reflect the vital importance of intellectual property rights for U.S. industrial competitiveness and made a priority item on the national agenda.

4.03a. Domestic Protection of Intellectual Property

Policymakers should be strongly committed to supporting the rights of innovators to exploit their own inventions and should continually review the adequacy of our laws in the face of fast-paced scientific and technological change. In particular the NAM believes public policy should:

Increase national awareness of the inseparable link between intellectual property rights protection on the one hand and innovation, improved trade performance, sound economic growth and strengthened national security on the other.

Strengthen U.S. intellectual property laws through improved mechanisms to safeguard confidential business information and trade secrets held by the government, and the restoration of any loss to the term of a patent through delay caused by federal regulatory requirements.

Encourage Congress to support marketplace approaches to technology-related challenges. Policymakers should refrain from banning or restricting technologies that may be used for substantially non-infringing uses. If government intervention is deemed necessary, such efforts should focus on proscribing or regulating the illicit behavior itself.

Protect the health, safety and welfare of American consumers by recognizing the harmful effect of counterfeit and pirated products on the public and on our economy. Enforcement policies, both public and private, and strong interagency coordination and public education should be strengthened to help eliminate this threat. Industry should be encouraged and incentivized to use advances in technology and manufacturing processes to help curb the dissemination of counterfeit and pirated products.

Allow federal contractors to retain the commercial domestic and foreign rights to inventions made in the performance of the contract, subject to a royalty-free, non-exclusive license to the government for governmental purposes. Any such license should not convey rights to the government to background inventions and technology or to manufacture or use an invention for the purpose of providing services or supplies to the general public in competition with the contractor or the contractor's commercial licensees in the licensed fields.

Ensure the continued improvement of U.S. intellectual property laws, procedures and penalties to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. The centerpiece of an effective intellectual property protection regime is an adequately staffed, efficiently operated and fully funded United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) that will process patent and trademark applications in a high-quality and expeditious fashion.

Support policies that eliminate unnecessary cost, complexity and uncertainty in the U.S. patent system.

4.03b. International Protection of Intellectual Property

Most intellectual property laws are based on the principle that foreign inventors are afforded a level of protection equivalent to that of domestic inventors. This principle has often failed to ensure sufficient protection internationally because of inadequacies in existing laws and enforcement regimes. In too many countries, it is difficult to establish whether "ownership rights" exist. Even when acknowledged, these rights are often flagrantly disregarded by attempts to acquire technologies as quickly and inexpensively as possible without adequate compensation or protection to the intellectual property owner.

Policymakers and the business community should work together to secure greater international protection of intellectual property rights. As part of any strategy, we should:

Exercise rights under U.S. trade statutes and use the resultant leverage to strengthen worldwide protection of intellectual property rights.

Work bilaterally to encourage changes in the laws and policies of foreign countries as well as the implementation of efficient enforcement regimes.

Strengthen multilateral arrangements and international agreements regarding intellectual property rights and counter efforts to erode protection within those agreements or in new agreements.

Recognize intellectual property as a core trade issue and make adequate protection of such rights a priority in bilateral/multilateral trade negotiations.
Ensure that practices and policies embraced at the domestic level do not undermine the international protection of intellectual property.

4.04. Telecommunications, Spectrum Policy & the Internet

American manufacturing benefits from a competitive telecommunications market. Advances in technology have been responsible for a robust U.S. economy and the strengthening of manufacturing sectors across the board.

The NAM recognizes the critical need to promote policies that support a world-class telecommunications system. To promote telecom efficiency, laws, rules and regulations that impede the deployment, management or use of high-speed data lines should be eliminated.

In addition, policymakers should foster a legislative and regulatory environment that maximizes user choice in the selection of communications solutions, whether private facilities or carrier-supplied, wireless or wireline, terrestrial or satellite, as long they do not harm or compromise the integrity of advanced telecommunications networks.

Fostering an environment where manufacturers and consumers alike can obtain the services and content they want, when they want it and regardless of medium, is of primary concern. To achieve this goal, policymakers should:

Remove barriers to entry that prevent broadband providers from offering high-speed information services to homes and businesses;

Balance the need for regulations against the potential to dampen private industry's incentive to invest in broadband technology;
Encourage federal and state regulators to monitor the rollout of broadband services; and

Adopt a federal framework and to the extent necessary, lightly regulate only to ensure fair, technology-neutral competition for all providers.

4.04a. Deployment of Services, Access & Resource Allocation

Recognizing the continued need to develop technologies that promote high-speed data communications - whether provided over wireline, power-line, wireless or satellite - the NAM encourages new developments in these areas and supports their use by appropriate government agencies and suppliers of services and equipment.

Access to broadband provides limitless opportunities to our society in advancing technology, innovation, investment and manufacturing sector job creation. Future national economy growth depends upon the ability of businesses and individuals to secure broadband services that are not impeded by burdensome regulations. Market-based solutions should be relied upon to satisfy consumer demand for broadband access. In limited cases where demand for broadband is low, public and private interests should combine resources (including public-private partnerships that include incentive programs and subsidy mechanisms) to raise broadband demand without the imposition of mandates or regulations.

To protect American industry's freedom to choose the type of communications best suited to its needs and growth, policymakers should encourage the broadest development and use of telecommunications systems. Policymakers should allow private telecommunications providers to maintain their networks, allocate resources and determine the optimal performance of their networks, while promoting free-market principles.

4.04b. Governmental Regulation

In the interest of free enterprise, policymakers should promote the timely development and use of innovative telecommunications services and facilities. To the extent practicable, government should rely on the marketplace, rather than restrictive regulation, to provide the public with efficient telecommunications systems. Specifically, policymakers should refrain from imposing any new laws, rules, regulations, tariffs or taxes on advanced communications technologies and services. Further, the NAM will work with federal, state and local authorities to help eliminate any artificial barriers to deployment of new products and services, and help to promote fair, neutral and streamlined application processes.

4.04c. eCommerce

American manufacturers benefit from the ability of consumers to access information and buy products directly from them and their distributors. The strength of the Internet lies in the fact that government has allowed it to grow and thrive unburdened by unnecessary rules, regulations or taxes; government policymakers should be encouraged to continue this approach.

4.04d. Privacy & Data Security

The NAM recognizes the critical relationship between all manufacturers and those that entrust their data to them, as that trust and goodwill is based in industry's continuing efforts to protect the security, integrity and privacy of that data. Manufacturers also recognize that respecting and safeguarding privacy builds consumer confidence in new and innovative technologies and services. Because of this, industry's best-practices in the proper handling of data are constantly adapting and evolving to address new threats. Government mandates as to specific tools or technologies to be used, on the other hand, can hold back innovation by freezing today's state-of-the-art in place, where it can become quickly outdated. The NAM will work with legislators, regulators and government officials to avoid mandates and to ensure that industry best-practices, self-regulation and market-based solutions are used to protect data, that privacy and security will be driven both by the sensitivity of the information handled and the purposes for which it will be used, and promote policies that hold government agencies and private organizations to the same standards.

Because the flow of information has become global in scope, the NAM encourages the government to work with industry to establish internationally safe harbors and other mechanisms bilaterally with respect to data sharing and the transfer of information. As technology applications and the use of the Internet continue to grow, both the government and private-sector are gathering more consumer information to provide services, including personally identifiable information. The increase in the collection and use of this data has raised public concern over precisely what information is being collected, how the information is being used and the overall security of that information. As a result, addressing concerns related to the collection and use of consumer information is becoming of paramount importance to legislators at the state and federal levels.

To promote consumer confidence in new technologies in general, the NAM recommends that:

Lawmakers support strong non-discriminatory, federal preemption legislation to set a uniform national standard to ensure consumer privacy and data security;

States should be discouraged from passing laws or regulations that unnecessarily obstructs interstate commerce; and

Online businesses, vendors, and government recognize the need to respect individual privacy.

4.04e. National Security, Cyber-security & Infrastructure Protection

The maintenance and protection of our nation's cyber-infrastructure is critical to our national security, and the Federal government must recognize that the Internet is a distinctive, inherent part of our national infrastructure. Due to the interdependence and reliance of the entire economy and government on the Internet for communication, commerce and homeland security, the Internet deserves a continued priority and attention in national homeland security initiatives and preparedness activities. The NAM encourages the Federal government to advance homeland security preparedness through increased collaboration and coordination with the private sector. This includes reliance on industry-driven best practices, and defer to the private sector to continue to develop appropriate general and industry-specific best-practices for improved security. The NAM believes that:

U.S.-based manufacturers of critical technologies must be given preference for defense and homeland security applications;

Technology solutions should be open, interoperable, incorporating industry-based best practices and standards; and

Identity management solutions and secure communications are critical to infrastructure protection.

4.04f. Spectrum Policy

The NAM encourages the efficient use of electromagnetic spectrum through various technological and regulatory approaches, including the efficient use of spectrum in the industrial/business radio service.

It is essential that adequate spectrum be made available to meet the specialized communications needs of U.S. manufacturers. Radio facilities owned and operated by manufacturers themselves (private radio facilities) are best suited to these applications. These facilities have made, and will continue to make, important contributions to enhanced worker safety, as well as increased productivity of U.S. manufacturers (e.g., just-in-time delivery).

The NAM will continue to work with its traditional partner in spectrum policy matters, MRFAC, Inc., to provide the most effective advocacy for the spectrum policy interests of manufacturers.

Adopted Winter meeting 2008, effective until Winter meeting 2012

Issues

TDEP-04 Technology Policy