Innovation drought?

June 8, 2009
Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint
Beneath Americaâ??s financial woes lies a lack of innovation, a recent BusinessWeek article argues. A paucity of breakthrough products could have triggered the nationâ??s borrowing binge and ultimately the financial meltdown, it says.

Hereâ??s the logic: A decade ago, the nation was enamored with scientific and technological breakthroughs. Gene therapy would cure physical ailments, fuel cells would power cars, and satellites would extend high-speed Internet to rural areas. Today, despite massive investment in the technologies, few new products have materialized.

As a result, wages stagnated. Also, exports slowed and imports surged, which forced Americans to borrow from overseas sources. The misplaced optimism played into Wall Street excesses.

Close to home, the innovation problem is on clear display at Eli Lilly and Co., which is hustling to find something big to replace patents on top-selling drugs including Zyprexa. Lilly stock, which stands near $34, is nowhere near the $80-plus where it traded early this decade.

BusinessWeek predicts the investment ultimately will lead to those long-expected breakthrough products. For now, lots of people are frustrated and the economy is still sluggish.

What are your thoughts?
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Hank ReardenJune 9, 2009 5:21 AM
    This is no surprise. The Looters have taken away the incentive for R&D companies such as Lilly, Pfizer, etc. This is only going to get worse as the current administration continues their war on private business.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • ToddJune 9, 2009 8:10 AM
    Think about all the blue collar workers that got shafted over the last ten or so years. Our government leaders and corporations have sold the middle class out, so they could pad their wallets. I am all for people getting rich, but selling out your country is treason. They claim this global economy B.S., and if your not willing to go along with it, your either uneducated or afraid of change. Sorry a spaid is a spaid. Why have we become stagnate in developing new innovation? Cause of the aforementioned. Rich politicians and corporate executives do not get it anymore.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • RandomJune 16, 2009 1:25 PM
    Once the company is losing cash, they cut people, they start cutting and cutting and eventually start cutting those who do R&D and run on basics. If we continue to run on basics and not focus on investing in new ideas, we will see a deeper recession and eventually a second Great Depression. Companies shall invest not just in foreign markets for R&D but Local R&D. Don't bring people in from other countries but use what we have here. Americans are innovative. Americans are creative. We can get ourselves out of the recession, we just need quite a few people to invest and take chances on new ideas.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

Post a comment to this blog

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

ADVANCED SEARCH
Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

  1. First, the Athenaeum is going to have to get past the hurdle with the Lockerbie residents and the agreement that the parcel would be residential. Second, and in my opinion, this prime piece of property should include parking, PLUS, a black box theater(s), some market rate and affordable artist housing and a plan to renovate and reconfigure the second story theater. I would negotiate to add the DeHaan property surface parking lot into the development mix, place a one story surface parking garage on the DeHaan lot on the street level (for the Dehaan tenants use during the daytime) and add a second story to the garage that would become an addition to the current second story theater and then change the direction of the theater by moving the stage across the alley and on top of the DeHaan lot parking. You can add all the stage elements that are currently missing from the Athenaeum stage to make it more attractive for use by Ballet, Opera and traveling productions. Plus, the theater changes would probably help solve some of the soundproofing issues. Alas,it does not seem to be a part of the strategic plan to conduct a study to determine best use of the property. Seems like the current plan is a quick and easy move that ignores the property best use/potential and any strategic property planning for the effect on future generations.

  2. I recall that MSA's pilings are still in the ground and hard to remove. It’s not likely any proposal will include significant underground construction/parking because of this. Start adding 2 floors of retail, 8 floors of parking and 5-10 floors of possible hotel, and/or 10-20 floors of residential, and you are at 30 floors already with possible expansion of all the uses. But then again I could be wrong.

  3. Accoriding to their website there is no deadline to the Do Not Call list. What is this article referring to??

  4. On what planet are they entitled to this largesse from the stockholders? These people make multi-million dollar salaries: Pay for your own personal travel.

  5. It matters because they're already paid enormously fat salaries: Pay for your own personal travel. Being "taxed on it" isn't a valid excuse--so what? They're still being gifted a raft of luxury perks from somebody else's money on top of an enormous, lavish salary.

ADVERTISEMENT