It is widely accepted that over two-thirds of the average annual increase in per capita wealth of the United States is attributable to technological change as it becomes embodied in new products, new capital equipment and new production methods. Technological change is the result of research and development (R&D) carried out by the scientific and engineering communities. Surprisingly, since the first issue of The Engineering Economist appeared in 1966, only one article has addressed R&D as a public policy issue. Our profession distinguishes itself from that of conventional economists in that we are both economists and technologists. Apropos “going to the next level,” it is time to take a broader view of our professional role. Technology policy is defined as the government's decisions of how and whether to intervene in private R&D and its provision of funds for public R&D. This article addresses one instrument of technology policy: the research and experimentation (R&E) tax credit. Using a traditional engineering economics framework, we evaluate the potential effectiveness of the tax credit in stimulating R&D. Our general conclusion is that the R&E tax credit is a weak incentive for stimulating R&D.