Charles W. Wessner

Study Director

Dr. Wessner’s published work includes, under the leadership of Intel’s Gordon Moore, a ten-volume analysis of public-private partnerships in the United States. Including the groundbreaking study of the SBIR program, this major policy review now includes New Vistas in Transatlantic Science and Technology Cooperation (1999), Industry-Laboratory Partnerships: A Review of the Sandia Science and Technology Park Initiative (1999), The Small Business Innovation Research Program: Challenges and Opportunities (1999), The Advanced Technology Program: Challenges and Opportunities (1999), The Small Business Innovation Research Program: An Assessment of Department of Defense Fast Track Initiative (2000), A Review of the New Initiatives at the NASA Ames Research Center (2001), The Advanced Technology Program: Assessing Outcomes (2001), Capitalizing on New Needs and New Opportunities: Government-Industry Partnerships in Biotechnology and Information Technologies (2002), Partnerships for Solid-State Lighting (2002), Securing the Future: Regional and National Programs to Support the Semiconductor Industry(2003) and a summary volume entitled, Government-Industry Partnerships for the Development of New Technologies (2002). An additional report, reflecting the complex dimensions of his work, is Programs to Support Innovation and the Development of Small Business in Finland and The United States: A Review of Currently Policy and Research (2001). Together, these reports constitute the largest, program-based effort to assess U.S. and foreign public-private partnerships in assisting new firms in the development of innovative, welfare enhancing technologies.

Recent articles and publications by Dr. Wessner include “Driving Innovations Across the Valley of Death,” Research-Technology Management (Jan-Feb 2005); “Enhancing Small Business Innovation in Europe: The Experience of the U.S. SBIR Program,” European Commission’s IPTS Report (July 2003); “Policies Promoting Innovation in Small Firms: Evidence from the U.S. and U.K.,” Small Business Economics: An International Journal (March 2003; with Donald R. Siegel, Martin Binks and Andy Lockett); “Sustaining Moore’s Law and the U.S. Economy,” Computing in Science and Engineering (January/February 2003); “Advanced Technology Program Survives Challenge,” Issues in Science and Technology (Fall 2002); “The Role of Macro Targets and Micro Incentives in Europe’s R&D Policy,” European Commission’s IPTS Report (November 2002); “Entrepreneurial Finance and the New Economy,” Venture Capital (August 2002); “The Economics of Science and Technology,” The Journal of Technology Transfer (April 2002; with David B. Audretsch, Barry Bozeman, Kathryn L. Combs, Maryann Feldman, Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Paula Stephan, and Gregory Tassey).