Former Intel CEO Andy Grove notably has called for a “scaling bank” to help scale innovations to production in the United States. To do this, the Obama administration should call for repurposing Fannie Mae into an industrial financing organization. The very existence of Fannie Mae reflects the fact that America has put more emphasis on consumption (housing) than on production (manufacturing). The new Fannie Mae (perhaps called the Federal National Industrial Mortgage Association) would buy and resell loans made to traded sector firms from banks and other lenders.

No formal complaints of the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet (“network neutrality”) rules have been lodged, although a number of firms complain about unfair conduct. In the event that an actual Open Internet complaint is made to the FCC, it should be carefully examined by an expert panel such as the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group before the FCC takes action.

ECPA was enacted in 1986 and has not kept pace with the advancement of technology. For example, there are different levels of protection afforded to the privacy of an individual’s data based on where the data is stored and how long the data has been stored. Where possible, the privacy of an individual’s communication should be the same regardless of the type of technology that is used to facilitate this communication.

The Obama administration should detail Vice President Biden to lead an effort to build a coalition with the Europeans, Canadians, Australians, Japanese, and whoever else will come aboard to lay out a renewed vision for globalization grounded in the perspective that markets should drive global trade and investment, that countries should not seek sustained trade surpluses, that currency prices should be set by the market (or at least not manipulated for competitive advantage); and that fair international competition and “good” innovation policies that leave all countries better off. The United States could start this with efforts to establish a TAP, a Trans-Atlantic Partnership: a new trade agreement with Europe and perhaps the Commonwealth nations.

To more aggressively fund battery innovation, the key barrier to affordable and viable electric vehicles, Congress should shift funding earmarked for the EV federal tax credit and instead boost funding for battery R&D at ARPA-E, the Battery Innovation Hub, and the National Labs.

DOD and DOE signed a memorandum of understanding in the summer of 2010 that laid the groundwork for cooperation on the development of an array of clean energy technologies, including advanced batteries. Firming up this collaboration would be a simple way to ensure both departments’ efforts are productive and aligned. So Congress should officially legislate the collaboration between DOD and DOE so additional funds could be appropriated for their efforts.

The Secretary of Energy should create a BatteryShot Initiative that coordinates government battery RD&D efforts and establishes clear metrics for success, such as ARPA-E’s goal of producing a battery with a total system cost of less than $250/kWh and a range of at least 300 miles per charge. The new Initiative should be even more ambitious and set more aggressive goals to make EVs more competitive than gasoline cars.

To facilitate increased funding, Congress should create a new office of Globalization Strategies within USTR. Within this new office a special unit to address green mercantilist trade practices should be formed so that the U.S. can bring cases whenever its clean energy interests are being hurt through trade rule violations.

Congress should uniformly apply the performance copyright for sound recordings to all broadcasts. The current system discriminates against non-terrestrial music services by imposing a performance copyright on sound recordings for all non-terrestrial radio broadcasts. Congress should promote technology-neutral policies to ensure a fair and competitive market for all forms of radio. Not only does this exemption for terrestrial radio disadvantage competing technologies, it also results in unfair compensation to the copyright holders. Congress should take an all-or-nothing approach so that terrestrial radio, Internet radio, satellite radio and other digital music services can compete fairly. In other words, everybody should pay (ideally), or nobody should pay, but the discrepancy should be eliminated. Terrestrial radio should not be the only technology platform exempt from paying royalties for performances of sound recordings.

Rather than duplicate existing efforts, the FCC should allow existing avenues of self-regulation and co-regulation to be pursued. Given the rapid rate of change in this industry, where possible, the FCC should apply a light touch and rely on flexible industry codes of conduct, rather than more restrictive government regulations, to govern how information is used. The FCC should not extend its authority to regulate the software that is installed on mobile devices. The current uses of CPNI by carriers are appropriate and neither the FCC nor consumers advocacy group have identified any specific harms to consumers. While privacy is an important issue to consider, the potential negative impact of additional regulation on the mobile Internet, mobile devices, and mobile applications should be considered as well. The FCC should instead use its expertise to help identify issues that need attention and actively participate in existing multistakeholder efforts to improve consumer privacy.