Expect a Flood of Competitions As US Tries To Spur Public Inventions 75
coondoggie writes "When it comes to stirring the brains of genius, a good competition can bring forward some really great ideas. That's the driving notion behind myriad public competitions, or challenges, as they are often labeled, that will take place in the near future sponsored by the U.S. government. The competitions are increasing by design as part of the $45 billion America Competes Act renewed by Congress last year that gave every federal department and agency the authority to conduct prize competitions, according to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy."
Well, okay... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is the government going to indemnify me if my invention happens to violate one of the fifty gazillion patents that are already out there?
spend (Score:5, Insightful)
passing asinine laws like "teach the controversy"
raising tuition costs at public universities
outsourcing technical jobs to the phillipines and china
only to hold a "public competition" to see who among those left standing from academia can invent something bold, new, and amazing which will then be targeted for acquisition by one of americas officially approved, sanctioned tech companies (google, apple, microsoft, pick one it doesnt matter) and if there is any resistance to this process, it will be obliterated through patent litigation or lobbied to death until no one has it. At which time megacorp will proclaim a new and bold innovation that sounds strikingly familiar.
america doesnt want innovation because it has the power to displace monopolistic plutocracies. another fact of the matter is that health insurance, dental, vision, 401k, retirement, and all the cool things about being an employee are really fucking expensive. companies would rather not hire 50 people to come up with a new invention, especially during a recession that some of these companies were directly complicit in creating. just take a few grand for your efforts and give us the goods, they say. on the government level its also why DARPA hosts most of these things. Keep working on fun new robots but for god sake dont question the economic or foreign policy that relegated you to joining a damn competition so you can afford dental work.
Re:Well, okay... (Score:1, Insightful)
You hit the nail on the head, You can't create a product these days without a $50 Million dollar war chest of patents and lawyers. You can hold all of the competitions and provide capital for all of the small manufactures you want but if the patent system isn't reigned most are going to be ground under the heal of some international corporation looking to stifle the compilation or die the death of a thousand cuts from patent trolls looking to pillage every cent they can using the patent system as a pirate ship.