How the current dysfunction in Washington hurts innovation

The range of dates on this week’s readings is indicative of the difficulty faced by the federal government in supporting social innovation, and innovation more broadly. The tone of the articles from 2007 to 2014 detailing the Obama administration’s efforts to promote social innovation range from cautiously optimistic to downright dismal. Given these mixed results, it makes sense to investigate how the current administration is approaching this issue and whether they have made any progress. Unsurprisingly, the lack of focus from the Trump administration and the broader dysfunction in Washington has not made a difficult challenge any easier.

The Trump administration’s innovation efforts center on the White House Office of American Innovation (OAI). Run by Jared Kushner, the OAI is tasked with “implementing policies and scaling proven private-sector models to spur job creation and innovation.”[1] OAI and the President leveraged their convening power to bring chief executives from America’s leading companies to participate in two advisory councils, the Strategy and Policy Council and the Manufacturing Council. The OAI also oversees American Technology Council, which is comprised of 19 government officials with a mission to modernize American technology. Given the strategies presented by SSIR, the Center for American Progress, and several government officials in this week’s readings, these developments sound promising.

However, the administration’s efforts in this area have been hamstrung by a series of self-inflicted wounds. Since its establishment, the directive of the OAI has ballooned to include upgrading federal technology, piloting a new apprenticeship program, spearheading job creation, and, simply, “unleashing American business.”[2] Showcasing even greater lack of focus, the OAI was also recently tasked with addressing the nation’s opioid crisis. The presidential advisory councils have not fared well either. Several prominent CEOs resigned from the councils following the President’s ham-handed response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville and they were ultimately disbanded.[3] With this kind of dysfunction, it is hard to imagine the administration delivering on its promise to unleash innovation.

The dysfunction has even stymied relatively straightforward solutions. In the spring of 2017, Texas Republican and Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly moved a bill through the House that would establish a centralized IT modernization fund and pave the way for agencies to reallocate savings from consolidating their data centers for other purposes.[4] A rare show of bipartisanship, the bill promotes the exact policies advocated in this week’s readings by making funding available for innovation and improving the cost-effectiveness of government programs. However, the Senate version of the bill now languishes in committee while Congress fumbles to deliver on unrealistic campaign promises and fend off controversies of the White House’s making.

Government need not be antithetical to innovation. Several of this week’s readings put forth thoughtful and feasible initiatives proving just that. Unfortunately, given the current state of disarray in Washington, social innovators must continue to look elsewhere for support as an ostensibly “pro-innovation” administration continues to fumble.

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[1] Office of the President, “Presidential Memorandum on The White House Office of American Innovation”, March 27, 2017

[2] Nancy Scola, “What Jared’s Office Actually Does”, Politico, July 1, 2017. http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/07/01/jared-kushner-office-american-innovation-000470

[3] David Gelles, Landon Thomas Jr., Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Katie Kelly, “Inside the CEO Rebellion Against Trump’s Advisory Councils”, New York Times, August 16, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/business/trumps-council-ceos.html

[4] Maggie Koerth-Baker, “Look! We Found Something Republicans, Democrats and Jared Kushner Actually Agree On!”, FiveThirtyEight, August 17, 2017. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/look-we-found-something-republicans-democrats-and-jared-kushner-actually-agree-on/