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1. Characterizing the Effects of Policy Instruments on Cost and Deployment Trajectories of Direct Air Capture in the U.S. Energy System

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF005924  

   Kanyako, Franklyn; Craig, Michael (June 2025, Earth's Future)

   Abstract Capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere via large‐scale direct air capture (DAC) deployment is critical for achieving net‐zero emissions. Large‐scale DAC deployment, though, will require significant cost reductions in part through policy and investment support. This study evaluates the impact of policy interventions on DAC cost reduction by integrating energy system optimization and learning curve models. We examine how three policy instruments—incremental deployment, accelerated deployment, and R&D‐driven innovation—impact DAC learning investment, which is the total investment required until the technology achieves cost parity with conventional alternatives or target cost. Our findings show that while incremental deployment demands significant learning investment, R&D‐driven innovation is considerably cheaper at cost reduction. Under a baseline 8% learning rate, incremental deployment may require up to $998 billion to reduce costs from $1,154 to $400/tCO₂, while accelerated deployment support could save approximately $7 billion on that investment. In contrast, R&D support achieves equivalent cost reductions at less than half the investment of incremental deployment. However, the effectiveness of R&D intervention varies with learning rates and R&D breakthroughs. R&D yields net benefits in all cases except at extremely low breakthroughs (5%) and very high learning rates (20%), where they are slightly more expensive. For learning rates below 20%, R&D provides net benefits even at minimal breakthroughs. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive public policy strategies that balance near‐term deployment incentives with long‐term innovation investments if we are to ensure DACS becomes a viable technology for mitigating climate change. 

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2. The Economics of Crisis Innovation Policy: A Historical Perspective

   https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20211106  

   Gross, Daniel P.; Sampat, Bhaven N. (May 2021, AEA Papers and Proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made comparisons to World War II. In 1940, a group of top US science administrators organized a major coordinated research effort to support the Allied war effort, including significant investments in medical research that yielded innovations like mass-produced penicillin, antimalarials, and a flu vaccine. We draw on this episode to discuss the economics of crisis innovation. Since the objectives of crisis R&D are different than ordinary R&D, we argue that appropriate R&D policy in a crisis requires going beyond the standard Nelson-Arrow framework for research policy. 

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3. Collection Innovation

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3311957.3358608  

   Gerber, Elizabeth M.; Nickerson, Jeffrey V.; Dontcheva, Mira; Dabbish, Laura; Hill, Charlie (January 2019, CSCW’19 Companion)

   As people increasingly innovate outside of formal R&D departments, individuals take on the responsibility of attracting, managing, and protecting social, financial, human, and information capital. With internet technology playing a central role in how individuals work together to produce something that they could not produce alone, it is necessary to understand how technologies are shaping the innovation process from start to finish. We bring together human-computer interaction researchers and industry leaders who have worked with people and platforms designed to support collective innovation across diverse domains. We will discuss the current and future research on the role of platforms in collective innovation, including topics in social computing, crowdsourcing, peer production, online communities, gig economy, & online marketplaces. 

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4. Findings and Recommendations of the May 2022 US-UK AI Workshop

   Wing, Jeannette M.; Wooldridge, Michael (February 2022, May 2022 US-UK AI Workshop)

   Findings and recommendations from a two-day virtual summit funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to enhance collaborative efforts on research and innovation between the US and UK in developing AI solutions for mutual benefit. 

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5. Inclusion of Underrepresented Entrepreneurial-minded Postdocs in High-tech Startups Increases U.S. Competitiveness

   https://doi.org/10.34297  

   Ivanitzki, T; Johnson, R; Levitin, R. (October 2021, American journal of biomedical science research)

   null (Ed.)

   Studies have shown that in the U.S., Black, Hispanic, and women entrepreneurs are given a tiny fraction of venture capital funding, which is vastly disproportionate to their representation in the population. This investment discrepancy is not only socially unjust, but it also deprives the U.S. of the advantages in innovation and global competitiveness that could stem from increasing the participation of these groups in innovative sectors. This is particularly true within transdisciplinary startups, including those focused on smart energy, biomedical, and nanomedical technologies, all of which require cross-disciplinary experts. Every new enterprise in these fields experiences challenges in finding adequate support. These challenges exist at a time in the 21st century when U.S. innovation is facing unprecedented pressures in competition for primacy. In 1960, U.S. R&D expenditure for defense and private industries was approximately 69 percent of global spending on R&D [1]; whereas in 2016, the U.S. share of global R&D expenditure had decreased to just 28 percent [2], due to China’s substantial advances in R&D. If this trend continues, both China’s GDP and R&D expenditure measured by GDP will outperform those of the U.S. by 2030 [3]. To ensure that the U.S. remains a world leader in R&D, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched the Innovative Postdoctoral Entrepreneurial Research Fellowship (I-PERF) program. I-PERF facilitates the professional development of Black, Hispanic and female research fellows, who are typically underrepresented within STEM fields, by offering them invaluable experience within research and technology companies. The program’s goal is to enhance diversity in the startup and entrepreneurial landscapes, improve opportunities for researchers from underserved groups, and increase the number of highly competent entrepreneurs within the U.S. STEM community. The startup companies involved in the program, which are also supported by the NSF, comprise a variety of new, mixed STEM fields that were unknown just a few decades ago. 

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