NBER Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy Conference
Organized by Benjamin Jones and Josh Lerner
Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
May 5, 2026
National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W., Washington DC

Tuesday, May 5

8:30 am

Continental Breakfast

8:40 am

Federal R&D Funding and R&D Tax Policy

9:00 am

Estimating the Economic Effects of Federally Funded R&D (slides)

Sheila Campbell, Congressional Budget Office
Jaeger Nelson, Congressional Budget Office
Eli Schrag, Congressional Budget Office
Heidi Williams, Congressional Budget Office
Caleb Wroblewski, Congressional Budget Office

9:30 am

Estimating the Present Value of R&D Tax Benefits in the United States

Thomas Barthold, Joint Committee on Taxation
Elena C. Derby, Joint Committee on Taxation
Christopher P. Giosa, Joint Committee on Taxation
Nicholas C. Hoffman, Joint Committee on Taxation
Martin Lopez-Daneri, Joint Committee on Taxation
Rachel Moore, Joint Committee on Taxation
Brandon Pecoraro, Joint Committee on Taxation
Shannon E. Sledz, Joint Committee on Taxation

10:00 am

Break

10:01 am

Space Innovation

10:15 am

Defining Innovatisation: The case of New Space and the Changing Space Sector

Marc-André Chavy-Macdonald, University of St. Gallen
Benoit Cornet, University of St. Gallen
Dominique Foray, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

10:45 am

Old Space, New Space: A Commercial Revolution in Innovation?

Ruben Gaetani, University of Toronto
Alexander T. Whalley, University of Calgary

11:15 am

Break

11:16 am

Policy Approaches and the Endless Frontier

11:30 am

Local Returns to Federal Innovation Investment: Evidence from the National Laboratories

Susan Helper, Case Western Reserve University and NBER
Resem Makan, Case Western Reserve University
Daniel W. Shoag, Case Western Reserve University

12:00 pm

Keeping Pace with the Frontier: National Portfolio Dynamics.

Richard Klavans, Scitech Strategies
Dewey Murdick, Georgetown University

12:30 pm

A Policymaker-Centric Guide for Selecting Innovation Funding Mechanisms

Matthew S. Clancy, Coefficient Giving
Matthew Esche, Institute for Progress
Siddhartha Haria, The University of Chicago
Claire T. McMahon, Harvard University
Christopher M. Snyder, Dartmouth College and NBER
Caleb Watney, Institute for Progress

1:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Adjourn