Consistent Criteria Are Needed To Assess Small-Business Innovation Initiatives

The small-business community has voiced concern that the ability of small businesses to be active in innovation is inhibited by a number of federal policies. Congress has responded with legislation that addresses both the question of declining industrial innovation and the issue of the ability of small businesses to be innovative. GAO developed a comprehensive picture of small-business innovation by showing what influences the environment within which small manufacturing businesses innovate and how these small businesses act as innovators in that environment.