This article is an edited version of a speech given by Alfred R. Berkeley, former President and Vice-Chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the US Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) during the 2004 AUTM Annual MeetingSM. The article stresses the increasingly important role of technology transfer in the economic and social futures of the USA and points up lessons for technology transfer professionals from the key changes and policy decisions that have driven the development of America?s capital markets over the past few decades.