Defense Department research and development spending has a positive impact on private companies' innovation efforts, despite the Pentagon's focus on creating narrow, mission-oriented technologies and its inability to share some classified inventions, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The observation is likely welcome news for private industry as DOD has been vocal about protecting its R&D budgets and is formulating a Long Range Research and Development Plan, which is aimed at guiding investments in promising technologies that can...
