ABSTRACT
Technology and innovation policies in the US come in so many different shapes and sizes that this often confounds and frustrates visitors trying to understand the US system. Technology and innovation policies range from free-standing technology or industry-targeted initiatives, such as North Carolina's Biotechnology Center, to regionally targeted, broad-based strategies spanning R&D, technology transfer and technology diffusion, such as Arkansas's Science and Technology Authority. Further, priorities change, and programmes rise and fall with changes in regional economies and/or state governments. This diversity and flexibility are consequences of the fact that responsibility for much of the funding and most of the implemention of technology and innovation policies rests with the fifty states. Although the federal government spends large sums of money on research and innovation, the states control the purse-strings and make the decisions concerning which programmes to apply for and, within generally broad guidelines, how and where to use the resources. Because states have different economies, government structures, technological capacities, resources, priorities and political orientations, they have adopted a variety of objectives, programmes, and organisations.
