And there is a host of microeconomic ideas, such as tax breaks for research and development, designed to promote investment.

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Because little research, and even less development, has happened since, the pipeline of good ideas is getting steadily emptier.

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Many of the firms in attendance Tuesday favor some of the ideas he espouses, like a permanent extension of the federal research and development credit, which Congress allowed to lapse in December.

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There is plenty of venture capital for ideas that promise returns in the short or medium term, but longer-term research and development depends heavily on governments.

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Today's talking and touching therapies for couple's sexual problems are largely based on her ideas, just as the development of Viagra and its ilk owe much to the physiological research of Masters.

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Corporate research and development will therefore have to engage in open innovation to become more of a curator and an incubator of great ideas.

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