A National Science Foundation Workshop

Partnerships

Building a New Foundation for Innovation

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Maryellen R. Kelley

Maryellen R. Kelley is the principal partner of Pamet Hill Associates in Washington, DC and Truro, Massachusetts. Her consulting practice is focused on advising government agencies and universities' technology transfer offices on the design and management of R&D programs, providing assessment of science and technology policy initiatives, and analyzing the institutional and regional factors fostering the development and diffusion of innovations. From 1997-2000, Dr. Kelley served as Senior Economist in the Economic Assessment Office of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. At the ATP, she developed an inter-disciplinary program of research (economics, engineering, and management) on issues affecting the success of industrial R&D projects, the spread of knowledge across industries (and firms) of technological and scientific advances, and business strategies for commercializing new technologies. She designed and carried out studies on R&D activities of firms in high-technology industries using data collected from new surveys of R&D managers, archival sources on R&D projects, and in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and R&D managers. Moreover, she managed EAO research contracts and relationships with university-based researchers and consultants, organized and participated in workshops and conference panel discussions concerning R&D program evaluation metrics, technology policy issues, and research findings on the factors affecting the development and diffusion of innovations. In addition, she led the business and economic review process on boards responsible for recommending funding of high-risk industry R&D projects in electronics, information technology, life sciences and biotechnology, materials sciences, manufacturing systems and photonics.

Dr. Kelley has held faculty positions at Carnegie Mellon University (1988-94; 1996-97), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1994-96), and the University of Massachusetts (1982-88). She received her BA from Brandeis University, a Masters degree in urban and regional planning from Harvard University, and her PhD in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has published widely on technological change, with particular emphasis on information technology applications and the effects of IT use on productivity in manufacturing industries. Most recently, she completed a study for the ATP on the R&D strategies of firms that participate in public-private R&D partnerships. Dr. Kelley's publications include articles in such journals as the American Sociological Review, Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Economic Development Quarterly, Economic Geography, Industrial Relations, International Journal of Technology Management, Management Science, Research Policy, and Science. She is a member of the Academy of Management, the American Sociological Association, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.