Washington Examiner: Good News: Coronavirus is Causing an Innovation Renaissance by Charles Sauer
As the father of three girls, I sometimes get a little overwhelmed when thinking about COVID-19 and social distancing. They, as many are, are losing out on school, birthday parties, playing with friends, and just the basic social interactions that are so transformative at their age. However, what gets me through is that despite the very real threat and consequences, there is also a silver lining. The thing that inspires me and makes me proud to be living at this moment, and excited to educate my kids about what is happening, is the innovative response that we are also seeing.
I am not talking about the government. Many of the the government’s actions have been ill-advised, slow, and missing the target. I am talking about entrepreneurs retooling their businesses, restaurateurs finding ways to keep their business going and their employees working, movie theater owners selling popcorn in an attempt to pay their employees, and, most of all, the inventors that are trying to find a way to fight this pandemic and overcome it.
We are in the middle of an innovation renaissance, and it is amazing.
The innovations range from the simple to the world-changing. The innovations of yesterday that had unrealized value are now allowing us to adapt to this isolation in ways that couldn’t even be imagined a few years ago.
This should be no surprise. The spirit of invention has always been strong in America. Since our founding, we built protection for inventors into our Constitution through patents. As a result, we have been a nation that cherishes and rewards innovation, serving as an example to the world.