Technology push or technology pull: it’s an age-old question. In his new book, The Venturesome Economy, Columbia University’s Amar Bhide comes down squarely in favor of the technology pull view. The real source of America’s innovative edge is not simply in great universities, research intensive companies, government sponsored innovation efforts, or tech-savvy venture capitalists and Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial companies, but in something much more basic – a large body of “venturesome” consumers ready, willing, and able to try new things. Sometimes I call them the creative class 
Having lived and worked in the technology push world of Washington D.C., this book should be required reading for members of the incoming Obama administration’s economics and science and technology policy teams. The Financial Times has a nice review. A power-point summary is here.