Inside Sources: Innovation Is America’s Greatest Asset by James Edwards
The coronavirus has sufficiently disrupted life that it has our closest attention. And the private sector’s response — initiative, innovation and intrepidity — is inspirational.
Private-sector medical research-and-development innovators, such as biopharmaceutical companies and clinical labs, are working nonstop to discover diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and cures.
Medical device companies are making medical products of all sorts that are running in short supply and creating new devices for this unique situation.
Healthcare providers — hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses — are screening and treating people potentially or actually infected with the virus.
Various manufacturers, food companies and other businesses are retooling factories and reorienting facilities to add capacity and to mass-produce badly needed supplies and essential goods. And don’t overlook digital apps, delivery services, truckers, first responders, grocers and others filling necessary roles we usually take for granted.
At times like these, we do well to take stock of fundamental assets that enable America not only to survive but to thrive amid challenges. These assets include limited government, a republic, private property rights, the rule of law, due process, a free-market economy and popular sovereignty. And sometimes underappreciated as an asset is innovation.
With the coronavirus at hand, medical innovation is the focus. To be sure, we won’t overcome COVID-19 without innovation.