“As the 21st century unfolds, it is no longer a given that the United States will always be among the world’s leading knowledge and innovation centrees,” said Joe Tucci, CEO of computer storage company EMC, leading the charge.
"We have to recognise that our country is in a race for the future. To win this race…we must build on our considerable strengths and create a clear plan of action.”
This plan should include improving the education system, renewing the country’s entrepreneurial spirit, transforming the way the US competes and creating value from the growing volume of digital information in the US economy, believes Tucci.
A plan to flourish
Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, endorsed the view that a new strategy is needed. “Our economic future is intrinsically tied to the global economy,” he said, adding “Americans want to know that as a nation we have a plan to flourish and prosper.”
Tucci, Otellini and CEOs are getting the bid for action by the next President in well before the election, issuing a report last month outlining their strategy for US competitiveness.
The report, A Great Nation: How Americans Can Lead and Prosper in a Changing World, was issued by the Washington, DC-based Technology CEO Council (TCC), a policy advocacy group composed of CEOs from Intel, Morotola, IBM and other high-tech companies.
“The future of US competitiveness must be a central theme of our political and policy debate,” said Mike Splinter, CEO of Applied Materials. “We have the resources to remain the most dynamic economy in the world. Now our policymakers must demonstrate that they have the will and wisdom to help us succeed.”
Open up the markets
The report focuses on four basic themes:
- Building on US openness and inclusiveness by opening global markets, attracting the best and brightest workers and adopting a responsible and effective export control policy.
- Taking advantage of the information-rich US infrastructure by promoting infrastructure in telecommunications, health, energy and transportation and using data effectively to advance homeland security, health and research.
- Extending innovation excellence by promoting basic research through federal, state and university programmes, promoting science and tech education and strengthening the R&D tax credit.
- Unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit by eliminating uneconomic subsidies, maintaining a balanced intellectual property regime and promoting tax policies that incent individuals and businesses to innovate and invest in the country.
Earlier in the year the TCC released its “Seven for 07” agenda, which includes bipartisan, near-term initiatives that the Administration and Congress can take to advance US competitiveness. That agenda calls on government to:
- Increase funding for proven programmes and incentives for maths teacher recruitment and professional development.
- Double basic research budgets at the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Department of Defense.
- Renew Presidential Trade Promotion Authority with an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance programme to include service sector employees and more effectively assist workers in transition.
- Pass immigration reform that ensures the best and brightest can study and work in the United States.
- Enable accelerated use of information technology in health care services.
- Make a strengthened, modernised R&D tax credit permanent.
- Reform the patent system to address unjustified lawsuits, patent quality and global protection of intellectual property.
Still hopeful
While the TCC is concerned over the slide in US competitiveness, its message overall is hopeful. “The challenges we face are neither unprecedented nor insurmountable,” says the report. “Older Americans overcame a great depression and world war, successfully navigating the final shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Baby Boomers dealt with oil shocks, stagflation and a 50-year Cold War, advancing from the industrial era to the dawn of a knowledge economy. As the baton passes to a new generation of leaders, we can take comfort from our predecessors' triumphs and draw lessons from their stories.”
The TCC points to several strengths: the country thrives when economies are open and inclusive, innovation is the key to its prosperity and entrepreneurs are best at leveraging change. “By rewarding risk and facilitating competition, we cultivate a nation of entrepreneurs, giving us the talent to cope with changing geopolitics, technologies and global markets.”
The TCC is not the only body to be feeling nervous about the US’s competitive position. Shortly before its report was published, the US arm of the international SEMI semiconductor industry association joined the hand-wringing with its Secure the Future US public policy campaign. It is promoting legislation that encourages innovation and advanced manufacturing in the United States. SEMI stated that innovation is at risk because many current US policies fail to encourage technical innovation.
The US share in global chip production capacity is slipping, notably in leading-edge manufacturing technology, according to SEMI. Similarly, the US share of the worldwide integrated circuit market also is declining, and the country is seeing a corresponding loss of jobs, careers and high-tech business opportunities, said Vicki Hadfield, president of SEMI North America. The same challenges that affect US chipmakers are impacting US-based semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers.
The innovation pushes by TCC and SEMI North America come in the wake of the October 2005 National Academies report to Congress called Rising Above the Gathering Storm. It said the US advantages in science and technology have begun to erode, and a comprehensive and coordinated effort by the federal government was urgently needed to bolster US innovation (see Is US innovation in trouble?, Science|Business, 18 April 2007).
That National Academies report brought the issue of American competitiveness to the forefront in Washington over the past two years. It spurred President Bush to launch the American Competitiveness Initiative during his 2006 State of the Union address, and the two main US political parties to each create their own innovation agendas: the Democrats’ Innovation Agenda and the Republicans’ Innovation and Competitiveness Act.
While the political parties, SEMI and other advocates continue to push for legislation now, the new TCC report also is addressing future policymakers as the US prepares for the 2008 election.
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