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1 Innovation Theory and the National Robotics Initiative Effort of the National Science Foundation

Government research programs often support the advancement of technologies with strategic commercial potential in order to enable building industrial activity in new areas of technology. For example, considerable current government research funding for co-robots, or robots that interact with and help individuals, is motivated by the projected needs of aging populations in industrialized nations. Innovation theory offers one approach to analyzing government support of research as an economic development strategy. Analysis can improve understanding and support efforts to improve its effectiveness. Therefore we analyze this technology policy strategy from the perspective of technology innovation theory. In the United States, a robotics roadmap document motivates the National Robotics Initiative, which is a set of funding programs offered by multiple government agencies. We find that some aspects of the NSF’s effort, and those of other countries, accord well with insights provided by innovation theory, while others less so, and that increased awareness of innovation theory could help inform government technology policy in the U.S. and elsewhere.