Science, Engineering and the Future of the American Economy
Posted on January 22, 2007 Comments (8)
9 leaders (Craig Barrett, Charles Vest, Scott McNealy, Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Judith Rodin, Rick Rashid, Nick Donofrio, Dr. Ralph Wyndrum Jr. and Lou Dobbs) share their thoughts in Keeping Research and Leadership at Home by Vivek Wadhwa:
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Craig Barrett, Intel chairman – Currently we have lost the race in K-12 education, we are losing our position as a top educator of science, technology, engineering and mathematics students, we are losing our lead in university research, and we have our head in the sand on government policy.
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Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, Sycamore Networks co-founder and chairman – We believe that all of this greatly increases the chances of a particular innovation having impact. Such sophisticated systems can only be developed in the U.S. because it is the only country with both flexible thinking and free markets.
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Charles Vest, former president of MIT, president-elect of the National Academy of Engineering – We’re on top, but our share of the world’s R&D spending, new patents, scientific publications, researchers, and BA and PhD. degrees in science and engineering are all dropping. We need to start right now to strengthen investment in basic research, get serious about K-12 education, especially in math and science, and attract more of our best and brightest young men and women into what will be crucial and exciting careers in engineering and science.
In previous posts I discuss my thoughts on the important topics of science, engineering and the economy: The Future is Engineering – Science and Engineering in Global Economics – Engineering the Future Economy – Diplomacy and Science Research – Economics and Science and Engineering – U.S. Slipping on Science
Many people have a mistaken impression of global manufacturing. The most fundamental economic facts of global manufacturing are:
- Global output is increasing and
- Jobs are decreasing everywhere, not moving from one place to another – decreasing everywhere. China has lost far more manufacturing jobs than the USA
- China’s output is growing rapidly
- The USA is still by far the largest manufacturer, USA output is growing faster than global output and much slower than China’s output.
- Japan is the second largest manufacturer with China third, by a fairly large margin.
Related: Recapturing R&D Leadership – China challenges dominance of USA, Europe and Japan – Basic Science Research Funding – The World’s Best Research Universities – USA Under-counting Engineering Graduates – Engineers in the Workplace – China and USA Basic Science Research – Myths of Manufacturing Productivity
8 Responses to “Science, Engineering and the Future of the American Economy”
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February 3rd, 2007 @ 5:44 pm
[…] Great stuff – this is the kind of thing that allows the ingenuity of engineers to benefit the economy and the engineers. […]
July 4th, 2007 @ 8:33 am
“As other locations establish centers that can draw the best minds and capital they will get the benefits the USA has grown to expect.”
October 28th, 2007 @ 9:45 am
“As I have said before I disagree with those that believe the USA is producing more science and engineering graduates than the market demands. Smart leaders know the huge positive impacts of a large, well educated science and engineering workforce…”
November 25th, 2007 @ 11:27 am
As I have said many times the economic future will be greatly influenced by science and engineering. Those countries that succeed in creating a positive economic climate for science and engineering development will find economic rewards those that fail to do so will suffer…
December 13th, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
This interesting and long report (I have not finished reading it yet – 120 pages) has been completed by the President Emeritus of at The University of Michigan (and current University Professor of Science and Engineering)…
September 4th, 2009 @ 6:07 pm
Sir James Dyson: “I have always advocated for investment in engineering – to both improve society and stimulate economies.”
December 6th, 2011 @ 6:50 pm
Investing is science and engineering is an extremely wise economic (and cultural) endeavor but it isn’t going to solve all the problems that exist. Somehow today we find ourselves with a large number of politically powerful people we take strong anti-science positions…
March 31st, 2014 @ 8:22 am
After World War II the USA was able to coast on an economic bubble of extreme wealth compared to the rest of the world for several decades (and the economic success built during that period even still provides great advantages to the USA)…