In their book, Mr. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonprofit policy research group, and Mr. Ezell, a senior analyst at the foundation, define innovation as not only the generation of new ideas but also as their adoption in new products, processes, services and organizational models. In their view, the goal of policy should be to invest in and nurture the development of the innovation pipeline, from basic science to commercialization.

That would call for a more hands-on role for government than is embraced by the mainstream of economic thought, certainly in the United States. The consensus of most economists is that basic science is a “public good,” with the benefits widely shared by society, and thus a worthwhile recipient of government financing. But technology — the application of science to real-world problems — is regarded as a “private good,” with its development best left to the marketplace.

Mr. Atkinson, whose Ph.D. is in city and regional planning, says he is presenting the case for loosening the grip of “neoclassical economists” on policy. He has held economic and technology policy jobs in Rhode Island and for Congress, and has served in advisory groups in the administrations of President Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Mr. Atkinson’s nonprofit policy research organization receives financial support from groups including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and from corporations including Intel and I.B.M.

A linchpin of innovation policy, according to Mr. Atkinson, is collaboration between government and industry. As a prime example, he points to Germany and its network of 60 Fraunhofer Institutes, financed 70 percent by business and 30 percent by federal and state government. The institutes, he says, perform applied research intended to translate promising technologies, from polymer research to nanotechnology, into products. These tech-transfer clusters, Mr. Atkinson says, are an important reason for the strength of Germany’s manufacturing sector, even though wages for its factory workers are 40 percent higher than those for American workers.

Taking a page from the German model, the Obama administration announced this year plans for up to 15 manufacturing innovation institutes, public-private collaborations called the National Network of Manufacturing Innovation. The first will be in Youngstown, Ohio, specializing in custom manufacturing using 3-D printing technology. Mr. Atkinson says that while this is a good step, what is needed is a long-term commitment. He noted that Germany’s Fraunhofer initiative began nearly four decades ago, and has grown steadily.