SIA’s Dustin Todd to Serve as Chair of Task Force on American Innovation
Friday, Sep 18, 2015, 4:00pm
by John Neuffer, President and CEO
Dustin Todd, director of government affairs at SIA, this week became co-chairman of the Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI), a coalition of U.S. companies, research universities, and scientific societies that promotes federal investments in scientific research. Dustin succeeds Texas Instruments’ Gene Irisari, who did a tremendous job advancing the coalition’s research priorities over the last four years.
Since joining SIA in 2013, Dustin has spearheaded the association’s efforts to secure federal funding for university research, a longstanding priority for SIA and our members. As TFAI chairman, Dustin will continue those efforts on behalf of the larger tech, scientific, and academic communities, as well as the semiconductor industry. He will continue to work with the Administration and Congress to support research funded by a range of federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science.
Research makes possible leap-ahead innovations that drive growth in our industry and the U.S. economy. Federal research investments have enabled some of the most revolutionary inventions of the last 60 years, including the Internet, the Global Positioning System (GPS), the laser, and the large-scale integrated circuit. But the future of American innovation is not guaranteed, and U.S. investments in R&D as a share of GDP have decreased in recent decades, while other countries have increased research investments.
When it comes to investing in research, the U.S. semiconductor industry puts its money where its mouth is, investing a greater share of revenue in R&D than any other industry (18 percent in 2014). Working together, SIA and TFAI will urge policymakers to partner with industry and academia to invest in research and strengthen America’s technology leadership.
