INNOVATION POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES: AN OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES *

This article introduces the symposium on innovation policy. It identifies a number of relatively unexplored issues concerning the relationships among government policies and industrial innovation in the United States. While the effects of specitic government policies on innovation have been researched, relatively little is known about the ways U.S. policymaking processes and political institutions condition efforts to improve innovation policies. Methods of evaluating innovation programs that would yield results persuasive to innovation policymakers have proven elusive. Copyright 1984 by The Policy Studies Organization.