Science and Technology Policy Commons^™

Competition For Innovation, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Both antitrust and IP law are limited and imperfect instruments for regulating innovation. The problems include high information costs and lack of sufficient knowledge, special interest capture, and the jury trial system, to name a few. More fundamentally, antitrust law and intellectual property law have looked at markets in very different ways. Further, over the last three decades antitrust law has undergone a reformation process that has made it extremely self conscious about its goals. While the need for such reform is at least as apparent in patent and copyright law, very little true reform has actually occurred.

Antitrust has …

The Innovation Commons, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

This book of CASES AND MATERIALS ON INNOVATION AND COMPETITION POLICY is intended for educational use. The book is free for all to use subject to an open source license agreement. It differs from IP/antitrust casebooks in that it considers numerous sources of competition policy in addition to antitrust, including those that emanate from the intellectual property laws themselves, and also related issues such as the relationship between market structure and innovation, the competitive consequences of regulatory rules governing technology competition such as net neutrality and interconnection, misuse, the first sale doctrine, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Chapters …

Export Controls: A Contemporary History, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Provides highlights of my recently published book Export Controls: A Contemporary History. Describes the roles played by multiple U.S. Government agencies and congressional oversight committees in this policymaking arena including the Commerce, Defense, State, and Treasury Departments. It also reviews the roles played by international government organizations such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, export oriented businesses, and research intensive universities.

Ostp Directive And Fastr, Joshua Neds-Fox

Library Scholarly Publications

Presentation to the Research Subcommittee of the Academic Senate, Wayne State University, on recent federal executive and legislative developments in open access to research outputs.

Patent Value And Citations: Creative Destruction Or Strategic Disruption?, David S. Abrams, Ufuk Akcigit, Jillian Popadak

All Faculty Scholarship

Prior work suggests that more valuable patents are cited more and this view has become standard in the empirical innovation literature. Using an NPE-derived dataset with patent-specific revenues we find that the relationship of citations to value in fact forms an inverted-U, with fewer citations at the high end of value than in the middle. Since the value of patents is concentrated in those at the high end, this is a challenge to both the empirical literature and the intuition behind it. We attempt to explain this relationship with a simple model of innovation, allowing for both productive and strategic …

The New York Times As A Resource For Mode 2, Diana Hicks, Jian Wang

Diana Hicks

Life Sciences Innovation As A Catalyst For Economic Development: The Role Of The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, Barry Bluestone, Alan Clayton-Matthews

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

Innovation, Inequality, And The Commercialization Of Academic Research, Walter Valdivia

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

Patent policy is rarely debated in relation to its distributive consequences. In particular, the Bayh-Dole Act has been discussed in terms of its effects on the pace of innovation or the organization of science. However, this lecture re-assesses this policy from the perspective of a fair distribution of resources, both those committed to and those created by research-based innovation. Specifically, examining the management of university’s intellectual property, Valdivia will identify the institutional arrangements that reinforce a very asymmetric distribution of political and economic resources among universities and then characterize subtle but important links between these inequalities and the social distribution …

An Affordable Model For Enduring Iss Mission Operations With Increased Scientific Productivity, Donovan Torgerson, Josh Berk, Jeremy Straub, Anders Nervold

Jeremy Straub

The current model of operations for the International Space Station (ISS) is an exercise in futility. Persistent maintenance, risk aversion, high ground support and logistics costs and a lack of scientific productivity have rendered the world's most expensive laboratory severely underutilized.

An alternate management paradigm for ISS operations, based upon an approach utilized by national, state and local governments for the maintenance of public infrastructure (e.g., roadways) is presented. These governments, instead of trying to become experts at estimating the costs of, planning for and conducting repairs and upkeep on this infrastructure, instead hire a commercial vendor to perform these …

Space Station 2.0: A Public-Private Model For International Space Exploration, Donovan Torgerson, Josh Berk, Jeremy Straub, Anders Nervold

Jeremy Straub

The international community’s USD$150 billion (€113.94 billion) investment in the International Space Station (ISS) has produced a fraction of the scientific value that was anticipated. This paper presents a concept for how to prevent this problem from occurring for humanity’s next space station project referred to herein as Space Station 2.0. For Space Station 2.0, a research style acquisition program for acquiring modular Space Station components could be used or it could be administered as a commercial facility with international space agencies leasing space for research and other purposes, such as furnished habitat space. Customers may pay a mooring fee …

A Federalist George W. Bush And An Anti-Federalist Barack Obama? The Irony And Paradoxes Behind Republican And Democratic Administration Drug Policies, José Villalobos

José D. Villalobos

During President George W. Bush’s tenure in the White House, his administration stood clearly against state-level efforts in California and elsewhere to decriminalize soft drugs. Despite his loyalty to smaller government values and state sovereignty on other issues, the prospect of state-level drug decriminalization led Bush to pursue federal means of enforcing anti-drug laws. Years later, President Barack Obama, though known for his reputation as a federalist, shifted power over drug policy enforcement more towards the state level as a means to allow certain states to enact drug decriminalization policies at their will, particularly with respect to medicinal marijuana. The …

Detecting Structural Change In University Research Systems: A Case Study Of British Research Policy, Jian Wang, Diana Hicks

Diana Hicks

The Taxation Of Cloud Computing And Digital Content, David Shakow

All Faculty Scholarship

“Cloud computing” raises important and difficult questions in state tax law, and for Federal taxes, particularly in the foreign tax area. As cloud computing solutions are adopted by businesses, items we view as tangible are transformed into digital products. In this article, I will describe the problems cloud computing poses for tax systems. I will show how current law is applied to cloud computing and will identify the difficulties current approaches face as they are applied to this developing technology.

My primary interest is how Federal tax law applies to cloud computing, particularly as the new technology affects international transactions. …

More Effective Human Spaceflight Programs And Their International Security Implications, Bert Chapman, Sarag J. Saikia

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

NASA can more effectively perform its missions by transferring its aeronautic responsibilities to the Federal Aviation Administration and be renamed the National Space Agency. The U.S. must also recognize that space is an emerging arena of international competition and conflict and militarily protect its space assets from China which seeks to use space to restrict the U.S.' ability to defend its strategic interests in regions such as the Western Pacific.

Publishers And Universities Respond To The Ostp Mandate, Denise Troll Covey

Denise Troll Covey

Brief summary and comparison of the ClearingHouse for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS) announced by the Association of American Publishers and the SHared Access Research Ecosystem (SHARE) announced by the American Association of Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and Association of Research Libraries.

Impacts Of Innovation Policy: Synthesis And Conclusions, Jakob Edler, Paul Cunningham, Abdullah Gök, Philip Shapira

Philip Shapira

This report synthesizes key findings and insights from the Compendium of Evidence on the Effectiveness of Innovation Policy Intervention Project. The Compendium compiles and appraises available evidence about the impacts of a range of innovation policies. The purpose of this report is twofold. First, it pulls together overall lessons regarding the effectiveness and impacts of the innovation support measures covered in the Compendium. Second, the report offers observations and insights about the state of evidence and its production on the effectiveness of policies in this domain, including a consideration of evaluation methods, approaches and gaps. This provides a basis for …

Escaping Earth’S Orbit But Not Earthly Regulations: A Discussion Of The Implications Of Itar, Ear, Fcc Regulations And Title Vii On Interplanetary Cubesats And Cubesat Programs, Jeremy Straub, Joe Vacekescaping Earth’S Orbit But Not Earthly Regulations: A Discussion Of The Implications Of Itar, Ear, Fcc Regulations And Title Vii On Interplanetary Cubesats And Cubesat Programs

Jeremy Straub

As a small satellite moves further from Earth a lot of mission elements change. More power and/or a larger antenna is needed for communications, fuel requirements increase and mission operations become more complex. What doesn’t change significantly is the set of laws and regulations that the program and spacecraft must operate under. This paper reviews, principally, the impact of the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on the development, discrimination of information about and operations of small satellite programs. It reviews the duties imposed by ITAR, the exemptions enjoyed, particularly, …

Risk, Oil Spills, And Governance: Can Organizational Theory Help Us Understand The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?, Evelyn Cade

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico awakened communities to the increased risk of large-scale damage along their coastlines presented by new technology in deep water drilling. Normal accident theory and high reliability theory offer a framework through which to view the 2010 spill that features predictive criteria linked to a qualitative assessment of risk presented by technology and organizations. The 2010 spill took place in a sociotechnical system that can be described as complex and tightly coupled, and therefore prone to normal accidents. However, the entities in charge of managing this technology lacked the …

Congressional Preferences And The Advancement Of American Nuclear Waste Policy, Rhoel Gonzales Ternate

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The problem of nuclear waste disposal has existed since the time of the Manhattan Project in World War II. Although there exist a number of technological hurdles, the main cause that has consistently plagued a solution to nuclear waste has been the politics behind it. This thesis attempts to add to the political literature behind nuclear waste disposal by examining the nuclear waste disposal preferences of members of the United States House and Senate. It then compares and contrasts those preferences with a report by President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The hope was to determine if …

Shots For Tots?, Eric A. Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

By endorsing the use of a vaccine that makes the experience of puffing on a cigarette deeply distasteful, Lieber and Millum have taken the first few tentative steps into a future filled with medical interventions that manipulate individual preferences. It is tempting to embrace the careful arguments of “Preventing Sin” and celebrate the possibility that the profound individual and social costs of smoking will finally be tamed. Yet there is something unsettling about the possibility that parental discretion may be on the cusp of a radical expansion, one that involves a new and unexplored approach to behavior modification.

Defense, U.S. Department Of, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of U.S. Department of Defense activities in the western U.S. including the military's increasing emphasis on Asia-Pacific strategic trends and developments.

Do We Have An Itar Problem: A Review Of The Implications Of Itar And Title Vii On Small Satellite Programs, Jeremy Straub, Joe Vacek

Jeremy Straub

The small satellite space certainly falls within the realm of ITAR considerations. Some programs operate under the (perhaps mistaken) belief that ITAR doesn’t apply to them (or that they will never be caught). Others may assert that they are working under the basic research exemption. Still others have implemented ITAR information and facility access controls. At best, ITAR introduces a level of uncertainty regarding small satellite programs; at worst, it may be a predator lurking in the proverbial ‘tall grass’ waiting to pounce. This paper reviews the current state of ITAR legislation (including efforts to reform and revise the law) …

Stemsat: An Iss Cubesat Program Based On Spare Parts, Anders Nervold, Josh Berk, Jeremy Straub

Jeremy Straub

With the national government’s focus on driving STEM-education, it is important to provide hands-on ave-nues where students can engage with, and accumulate ex-perience working directly with projects within their fields of interest. The Student Technology Emersion Satellite (STEMSat), provides an avenue for students to become in-volved in CubeSat design and development with only mi-nor hardware and monetary resources, and without being dependent on a launch.

STEMSats are CubeSat satellites that are created from spare parts, residual tools and equipment, obsolete mate-rials, and other types of trash aboard the ISS. A list of all the excess items available for such a …

How Indeterminism Shapes Ecologists’ Contributions To Managing Socio-Ecological Systems, Sarah Michaels, Andrew J. Tyre

Andrew J Tyre

To make a difference in policy making about socio-ecological systems, ecologists must grasp when decision makers are amenable to acting on ecological expertise and when they are not. To enable them to do so we present a matrix for classifying a socio-ecological system by the extent of what we don’t know about its natural components and the sodal interactions that affects them. We use four examples, Midcontinent Mallards, Laysan Ducks, Pallid Sturgeon, and Rocky Mountain Grey Wolves to illustrate how the combination of natural and social source of indeterminism matters. Where social indeterminism is high, ecologists can expand the range …

The Tech Apprentice Internship Program: Engaging Youth In It, Felicia Vargas, Olu Ibrahim, Neil Sullivan, Deborah Boisvert

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Tech Apprentice program was designed to provide Boston Public School (BPS) students work-based learning opportunities within information technology (IT) departments across a diverse array of industries for seven-week, paid summer internships. A robust technology internship program encourages BPS students to pursue IT-related post-secondary degrees. Tech Apprentice has expanded from 25 student placements in the first summer to 123 who were employed in 2012, and the program has placed over 600 students in internships since the program launched in 2006. 98% of graduates attend colleges and 78% are pursuing an IT-related degree.

Technology And Privacy (Editorial), Michael Friedewald, Ronald J. Pohoryles

Michael Friedewald

No abstract provided.

Reconciling Privacy And Security, Marc Van Lieshout, Michael Friedewald, David Wright, Serge Gutwirth

Michael Friedewald

This paper considers the relationship between privacy and security and, in particular, the traditional ‘‘trade-off’’ paradigm. The issue is this: how, in a democracy, can one reconcile the trend towards increasing security (for example, as manifested by increasing surveillance) with the fundamental right of privacy? Our political masters justify their intrusions upon our privacy with proclamations of the need to protect the citizenry against further terrorist attacks like those that have already marred the early twenty-first century. The surveillance industry has been quick to exploit this new market opportunity, supported as it is by inexorable technological ‘‘progress’’ in devising new …

Using Risk And Participatory Communication To Support Community-Based Decisions: The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant Future Vision Project, Anna G. Hoover

Anna G. Hoover

No abstract provided.

Astaxanthin: A Comparative Case Of Synthetic Vs. Natural Production, Khoa Dang Nguyen

Faculty Publications and Other Works -- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Astaxanthin, the “king of carotenoids” has been widely used as an animal feed additive for several decades, mainly in the aquaculture industry. Recent studies have led to its emergence as a potent antioxidant available for human consumption. Traditionally it has been chemically synthesized, but the recent market interest has generated interests in producing it naturally via yeast (Phaffia rhodozyma) fermentation, or algal (Haematococcus pluvialis) induction. This work aims to compare these production processes and their impact on the economical, environmental, and societal scale. We also look at the attempts of increasing production yields by altering various …

Can We Actually Calculate The Social Cost Of Carbon?, Kyle Mckay

Kyle McKay

Social cost of carbon calculations poorly integrate the risk of worse-case scenarios and their impact on social equity, primarily due to the fundamental limitations of cost-benefit analysis. Continued use of the social cost of carbon is preferable to policy that assumes no social cost to carbon emissions, but risks overconfidence in modeling and political clashes around insufficiently important regulatory changes that could impair necessary larger scale policy changes.