John Doerr: How Obama can kick start 'green' innovation

Interviewee: The most important thing he's got to do is kick start a huge amount of innovation and research in energy. And he said this is his number one priority. We invest less than a billion dollars a year in renewable energy and research and that's contrasted with health care which is $32 billion. And I think we've just scratched the surface in terms of clean ways to use energy, to create energy. It's the challenge of our generation. It's the scourge of the economy. To a smaller point, we also in the longer term -- sorry, right away, we need more smart people and so I would create a specific program to double the number of engineers and scientist that are graduating every year in the United States. Take it from 30,000 to 60,000. That number in India and China is 300,000 right now per year. It has been declining in the United States of America. And a number of women in engineering has been declining as well. And yeah, we can do that. And finally it is -- what we do is we bring foreign nationals in to the worlds greatest universities. We train them, we invest in them and then we make them go home. What kind of national strategy is that? So, I would staple a green card to the diploma of... of any body who graduates with the degree in the physical sciences or engineering in United States.

Interviewer: So, let me ask you about the fist one just to push on a little bit. I mean there's obviously a huge amount of investment going on in the private sector in Silicon Valley in green tech right?

Interviewee: No, no, no.

Interviewer: What is that -- what's...

Interviewee: No. Actually not so much.

Interviewer: Is that not -- is that a misperception that this is the hot thing in Silicon Valley?

Interviewee: Well, it's the growing thing in Silicon Valley, but it's the number three areas where investment dollars are going. It was $3.5 billion just last year and that's up about 50% over the priority there, but the whole question of investment from venture capital in this new economic climate I think it has to be carefully examined and worried about.

Interviewer: So, let's -- just like saying, but do you think -- you think we need the government to get involved and it's not something that the private sector can do on its own. This is not -- this is a place where government investment needs to supplement what's going on in the...

Interviewee: The private -- yeah, the private sector on its own did not invent the Internet. The private sector on its own did not invent computer-aided design. The private sector on its own did not invent computer science as a discipline. All that got done by an amazing agency, a tiny little part with the department of the defense called DARPA. And sometime in the last eight years DARPA became mission oriented as opposed to technology competitive oriented and we started making robots that will run up caves and things of that sort. And were sorely laughing, we are starving for fundamental research in programs that aren't sliced up by congressional committees and hand it out in pork barrel district by district. And so one of things I do is I work really hard to restore DARPA to its former glory and autonomy. And we can do that right away.

Interviewer: But then they ask you to be focused to some extent on the energy sector?

Interviewee: Yes.