The Hill Opinion: If our innovators have no reward, how will America compete, by Senator Evan Bayh
This post originally appeared in The Hill on July 25, 2017.
America has always been a home for innovators, from Ben Franklin to Thomas Edison. Historically, their innovation has been key to job growth, rising wages and a better standard of living, and our patent system has always ensured that their investments would pay off. That’s how we created the strongest, most competitive economy in the world. It’s why, every year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has ranked our patent system first in the world — until this year, that is.
In 2017, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranked our patent system 10th in the world, tying our country with Hungary. Our patent system was deemed worse than that of the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, France, Japan, Spain, Singapore and Italy. These countries, along with China, have sought to improve their patent systems to attract investment and encourage homegrown innovators.