Jan. 21, 2008
It's an exciting world of R&D that we live in with an increasing number of challenges, an increasing rate of innovation, and an increasing rate of R&D investments. Dubai is building a whole research city from scratch. China continues to increase its national R&D investments at double-digit rates, and even the U.S., fighting two wars and facing an economic downturn, continues to increase its national R&D by an amount greater than all but one country-China.

The challenges, opportunities, and growth potential are without historical precedents. And as with any situation of this type, there are bound to be local anomalies and increased global competition in some sectors. In the U.S., competition has always been a driving force for increased effort. There's always been a very personal aspect of winning in the marketplace that is driven home from a very early age. Sputnik, the Cold War, the space race, the Internet bubble, and increasing auto imports have all been drivers for increased R&D, increased industrial effort, and resulting improvements. The global expansion of R&D is just one more of those challenges for U.S. researchers.

tim.studt@advantagemedia.com