Sustainable, long-term economic growth will accompany an investment in "innovation infrastructure" rather than roads and bridges, according to a new report from Washington, D.C.-based research and educational think tank Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

Authored by policy adviser Peter L. Singer, "Investing in ‘Innovation Infrastructure’ to Restore U.S. Growth" suggests the incoming Trump administration and new Congress support scientific and engineering research in the public, academic and private sectors to achieve gains beyond the short-term jobs of traditional stimulus programs.

"The U.S. economy is saddled with stagnant productivity and chronic underinvestment, which are slowing growth and preventing us from raising people’s living standards," said ITIF President Robert D. Atkinson in a news release. 

"Filling potholes and repairing sewers would certainly create jobs in the short term, but we also need investment that will address these structural issues for the long run. Increased productivity is the only path to better standards of living, and traditional infrastructure stimulus won’t be enough to get us there."

Examining the low productivity and annual gross domestic product growth of recent quarters, ITIF's report includes the perspective of economists and assesses the shortcomings of standard monetary and fiscal policy responses, including the limits of physical infrastructure spending.

The building blocks suggested to address the underlying structural problems of low investment and productivity stagnation include research funding, advanced-technology development, research infrastructure, "smart infrastructure" and pre-competitive cooperative advanced-manufacturing research institutes.

View the entire report here.

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