These guys in the Metropolitan Studies program at the Brookings Institute are soul mates of mine. In this report, they zero in on how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) labs, which are enormous repositories of cutting-edge technologies, should be engaging more deeply with the regional economies around them.
The report argues that the frequently insulated “behind the fence” operating style of the
DOE lab system has limited the labs’ contributions both to local innovation and growth. The report argues that these hubs need to engage more with local industry technology clusters in order to deliver on their mission and it recommends a number of ways to make that happen.
Amen!
