Policy Entrepreneurship at the White House

Tom Kalil on “getting things done in large organizations“: “For a total of 16 years, I had the honor and privilege of working at the White House, first for President Clinton (1993-2001) and later for President Obama (2009-2017). My colleagues and I had the opportunity to help design, launch, and sustain dozens of science and technology policy initiatives. We launched major research initiatives to create the “industries of the future,” such as robotics and advanced materials. We worked with Congress to give every agency the authority to support incentive prizes of up to $50 million, and to make it easier for startups to raise capital and go public. We built coalitions of government agencies, companies, foundations, universities, and nonprofits to prepare 100,000 K-12 STEM teachers, foster more vibrant startup ecosystems all over America, advance the Maker Movement and accelerate the commercialization of federally funded research. On a good day we were able to serve as “policy entrepreneurs,” which involved generating or spotting new ideas and taking the steps needed to identify and evaluate policy options, support a sound decisionmaking process, ensure implementation, and monitor the effectiveness of the president’s policies and initiatives….(More)”