STS.081
Innovation Systems for Science, Technology, Energy, Manufacturing, and Health
Examines science and technology innovation systems, including case studies on energy, computing, advanced manufacturing, and health sectors. Emphasizes public policy and the federal government's role in that system. Focuses on the US but uses international examples. Reviews foundations of economic growth theory, innovation systems theory, and the basic approaches to science and technology policy. Explores the organization and role of energy and medical science R&D agencies, as well as gaps in those innovation systems. Also addresses the science and technology talent base as a factor in growth, and educational approaches to better support it. Class meets for nine weeks; in the remaining weeks, students work on a final paper due at the end of the term. Limited to 25.
Spring 2017
Topics
- Economic Growth Theory and the Direct Elements in Innovation
- Innovation Systems and Direct/Indirect Elements in the Innovation Ecosystem
- The Competitive Challenge to U.S. Manufacturing
- The Challenge from Globalization for Advanced Manufacturing and New Services
- The Innovation System at the Institutional Level: The Organization of Federal Science Support
- Crossing “The Valley of Death” Between Research and Development: The Public-Private Partnership Approach
- The Organization of Innovation Systems at the Face-to-Face Level
- DARPA as the Connected Model in the Innovation System: Government-Private Sector Interaction and the Example of Computing
- The Life Science R&D Model: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- The Challenge of Energy Technology Transformation
- Improving the Talent Base: New Education and Training Models
- The Future of Work: The Employment-Productivity Debate
Readings
- [TILS] Bonvillian, William and Charles Weiss. Technological Innovation in Legacy Sectors . Oxford University Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780199374519.
- Atkinson, Robert. The Past and Future of America’s Economy: Long Waves of Innovation That Power Cycles of Growth . Edward Elgar Pub, 2005, pp. 3–40. ISBN: 9781845425760.
- Gupta, Udayan, ed. Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories . Harvard Business Review Press, 2000, pp. 1–11. ISBN: 9780875849386.
- Hughes, Kent. Building the Next American Century: The Past and Future of American Economic Competitiveness . John Hopkins University Press, 2005. Chapters 3, 4, 6, and 7. ISBN: 9780801882036.
- Berger, Suzanne. How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today’s Global Economy . Crown Business, 2005, pp. 251–277. ISBN: 9780385513593.
- Kim, Linsu. Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea’s Technological Learning . Harvard Business Review, 1997, pp. 192–213, 234–243. ISBN: 9780875845746.
- Moses, Joel. “Three Design Methodologies, Their Associated Organizational Structures, and Their Relationship to Various Fields.” Proceedings of Engineering Systems Symposium MIT, 2004.
- [TILS] Chapters 4 and 13 (pp. 37–54, 215–239). Manufacturing as an Innovation Policy Change.
- Conant, Jennet. Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science That Changed the Course of World War II . Simon & Schuster, 2003, pp. 178–289. ISBN: 9780684872889.
- Yannuzzi, Rick. “In-Q-Tel: A New Partnership Between the CIA and the Private Sector.” Defense Intelligence Journal 9, no. 1 (2000).
- [TILS] Chapters 1–2, 11–12 (pp. 1–20, 181–213). Innovation Systems and the Challenge of Legacy Sectors.
- Rosen, William. The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention . University of Chicago Press, 2012, pp. 35–39, 115–134. ISBN: 9780226726347.
- Bennis, Warren and Patricia Ward Biederman. Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration . Basic Books, 1998, pp. 196–218. ISBN: 9780201339895.
- Evans, Harold, Gail Buckland, and David Lefer. They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators . Little, Brown and Company, 2004, pp. 152–171. ISBN: 9780316277662.
- Evans, Harold, Gail Buckland, and David Lefer. They Made America: From the Steam Engine to the Search Engine: Two Centuries of Innovators . Little, Brown and Company, 2004, pp. 420–431. ISBN: 9780316277662.
- Daitch, Vicki and Lillian Hoddeson. True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen: The Only Winner of Two Nobel Prizes in Physics . Joseph Henry Press, 2002, pp. 115–154. ISBN: 9780309095112.
- Morrow, Daniel. “Oral History: Dr. J Craig Venter.” Computerworld Honors Foundation International Archives , 2003, pp. 3–53, 56–58.
- Bennis, Warren and Patricia Ward Biederman. Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration . Basic Books, 1998, pp. 63–86. ISBN: 9780201339895.
- Waldrop, Mitchell M. The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal . Viking Adult, 2001, pp. 119–134. ISBN: 9780670899760.
- [TILS] Chapter 8 (pp. 119–134). DARPA’s role as a change agent within DOD.
- Fong, Glenn. “ARPA Does Windows: The Defense Underpinning of the PC Revolution.” Business and Politics 3, no. 3 (2001): 213–237.
- Cook-Deegan, Robert. “Does NIH Need a DARPA?” Issues in Science and Technology 13, no. 2 (1997).
- Infectious Diseases Society of America. “Bad Bugs, No Drugs: As Antibiotic Discovery Stagnates… A Public Health Crisis Brews.” IDSA, 2004, pp. 3–28.
- Food and Drug Administration. “Innovation or Stagnation: Challenge and Opportunity on the Critical Path to New Medical Technologies.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004.
- [TILS] Chapter 7, subchapter on Health Delivery (pp. 112–118).
- “Convergence: The Future of Health.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016.
- Bonvillian, William. “Applying Innovation Policy to the U.S. Energy/Climate Challenge.” In Delivering Energy Law and Policy in the EU and U.S. Edited by Raphael Heffron and Gavin Little. Edinburgh University Press, 2016. ISBN: 9780748696789.
- Bonvillian, William. “Addressing the Scaleup Challenge for ‘Hard’ Technology Startups.” Annals of Science and Technology 1, no. 1 (2017).
- Recommended:
- Baumol, William. “Education for Innovation: Entrepreneurial Breakthroughs Vs. Corporate Incremental Improvements (PDF).” National Bureau of Economic Research, 2004.
- [TILS] Chapter 7, subchapter on Higher Education (pp. 96–112).
- Mindell, David. Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy . Viking, 2015, pp. 1–11, 191–218. ISBN: 9780525426974.
Prerequisites & course information
Same subject as 17.395[J] Prereq: None U (Fall) Not offered regularly; consult department 2-0-7 units. HASS-S
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2017
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.