June 30, 2011

Leadership must support innovation with fresh policy

Thirty years ago, it took the federally mandated breakup of the national telephone monopoly to allow the nascent telecommunications industry to bloom. There is a certain irony in companies that would not even exist without that sharp shock to the system now asking the Federal Communications Commission to erect monopolistic barriers to upstart Internet companies playing on another field that needs leveling.

The law of the economic universe that says bigger is better for stockholders but not for innovation is obvious. For example, brand-new figures from UK-based Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) show the number of people using mobile devices to pay for goods and services around the world is expected to reach 2.5 billion globally by 2015 — 400 million on the Indian subcontinent alone.

When was the last time you used your pocket-sized supercomputer that also makes phone calls to buy a movie ticket? Most likely never, although Juniper offers comparative data on 17 different mobile payment vendors around the world.

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Northern Colorado is universally recognized as home to some of the most innovative minds in clean energy — the new ACE park in Loveland will only help strengthen that distinction. But the United States is still struggling to capture a significant share of the potential $6 trillion global market. What is needed now is not disruption but stability, in the form of a national energy policy.

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall has been working toward a policy that includes a national renewable electricity standard like Colorado’s 30 percent while  promoting energy efficiency and responsible development of domestic resources such as nuclear power and natural gas for years. A comprehensive federal policy would create the kind of certainty that investors need to open their wallets to the clean-energy industry, especially venture capitalists willing to provide the early stage funding needed to bring startups across the “valley of death” to become established concerns ready to create jobs.

Last week, a committee of tech-industry CEOs delivered a report to Udall, his fellow senator Michael Bennet and Gov. John Hickenlooper that examined Colorado’s challenges in attracting and growing businesses in aerospace, bioscience, clean energy and related industries. Attracting capital was at the top of the list, followed closely by creation of a predictable business environment.

“We need our leaders to start thinking in terms of the next decade, not the next budget cycle,” the Coloradans for an Innovation Economy wrote.

We agree. We’re all Coloradans for an innovation economy.

Thirty years ago, it took the federally mandated breakup of the national telephone monopoly to allow the nascent telecommunications industry to bloom. There is a certain irony in companies that would not even exist without that sharp shock to the system now asking the Federal Communications Commission to erect monopolistic barriers to upstart Internet companies playing on another field that needs leveling.

The law of the economic universe that says bigger is better for stockholders but not for innovation is obvious. For example, brand-new figures from UK-based Juniper Research (www.juniperresearch.com) show the number of people using mobile devices to pay for…

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