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Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future
Ensuring That the United States Has the Best Environment for Innovation
SUMMARY
A number of recent reports have raised concerns about the United States’ long-term ability to sustain its global science and engineering (S&E) leadership.1 They argue that erosion of this leadership threatens our ability to reap the rewards of innovation in the form of higher incomes and living standards, better health, a cleaner environment, and other societal benefits.
Certainly, the leadership position the United States has maintained in research and the creation of new knowledge since World War II has been an important contributor to economic growth and other societal rewards. However, a look at US history and some contemporary international examples shows that leadership in research is not a sufficient condition for gaining the lion’s share of benefits from innovation. A favorable environment for innovation is also necessary. The environment for innovation includes such elements
This paper summarizes findings and recommendations from a variety of recently published reports and papers as input to the deliberations of the Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century. Statements in this paper should not be seen as the conclusions of the National Academies or the committee.
1
American Electronics Association. Losing the Competitive Advantage? The Challenge forScience and Technology in the United States. Washington, DC: American Electronics Association, 2004; Council on Competitiveness. Innovate America. Washington, DC: Council on Competitiveness, 2004; R. B. Freeman. Does Globalization of the Scientific/EngineeringWorkforce Threaten US Economic Leadership? NBER Working Paper 11457. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005; Task Force on the Future of American Innovation. The Knowledge Economy: Is America Losing Its Competitive Edge? Washington, DC: The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, 2005.
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OCR for page 455
Ensuring That the United States Has
the Best Environment for Innovation
SUMMARY
A number of recent reports have raised concerns about the United
States’ long-term ability to sustain its global science and engineering (S&E)
leadership.1 They argue that erosion of this leadership threatens our ability
to reap the rewards of innovation in the form of higher incomes and living
standards, better health, a cleaner environment, and other societal benefits.
Certainly, the leadership position the United States has maintained in
research and the creation of new knowledge since World War II has been an
important contributor to economic growth and other societal rewards. How-
ever, a look at US history and some contemporary international examples
shows that leadership in research is not a sufficient condition for gaining the
lion’s share of benefits from innovation. A favorable environment for innova-
tion is also necessary. The environment for innovation includes such elements
This paper summarizes findings and recommendations from a variety of recently published
reports and papers as input to the deliberations of the Committee on Prospering in the Global
Economy of the 21st Century. Statements in this paper should not be seen as the conclusions of
the National Academies or the committee.
1American Electronics Association. Losing the Competitive Advantage? The Challenge for
Science and Technology in the United States. Washington, DC: American Electronics Associa-
tion, 2004; Council on Competitiveness. Innovate America. Washington, DC: Council on
Competitiveness, 2004; R. B. Freeman. Does Globalization of the Scientific/Engineering
Workforce Threaten US Economic Leadership? NBER Working Paper 11457. Cambridge,
MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005; Task Force on the Future of American
Innovation. The Knowledge Economy: Is America Losing Its Competitive Edge? Washington,
DC: The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation, 2005.
455
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456 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
as the market and regulatory environment, trade policy, intellectual-property
policies, policies that affect the accumulation of human capital, and policies
affecting innovation environments in specific regions. In addition, grand chal-
lenges issued by the president (such as the reaction to Sputnik and the call for
the Apollo project) can mobilize resources and the national imagination in
pursuit of important innovation-related goals.
How can the United States sustain and improve the environment for
innovation even in a future where its relative share of global S&E inputs to
the innovation process (such as R&D spending, S&E personnel, and the
quantity and quality of scientific literature) declines?
Many approaches to improving the innovation environment have been
suggested. On some issues, including the offshoring of service-industry jobs,
contradictory diagnoses and prescriptions have emerged on the basis of
interests and political outlook of the analysis. On other issues, such as
patent-system reform, similar suggestions have emerged from several differ-
ent reports. The approaches suggested include the following:
Market, Regulatory, and Legal Environment
• Establish a public-private body to assess the impact of new regula-
tions on innovation.
• Reduce the costs of tort litigation for the economy.
• Reform Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act.
• Drop current efforts to expense stock options.
• Create best practices for collaborative standard-setting.
• Undertake market and regulatory reforms in the telecommunications
industry with the goal of accelerating the speed and accessibility of
networks.
Trade
• Increase focus on enforcement of the prevailing global rules for
intellectual-property protection, particularly in China and in other coun-
tries where significant problems remain.
• Make completion of the Doha Round of world-trade talks a priority.
Intellectual Property
• Harmonize the US, European, and Japanese patent systems.
• Institute a postgrant open-review procedure for US patents.
• Stop diverting patent application fees to general revenue to provide
the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with sufficient resources to
modernize and improve performance.
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457
APPENDIX D
• Shield some research uses of patented inventions from liability for
infringement.
• Leverage the patent database as an innovation tool.
Tax Policy
• Make the R&D tax credit permanent, and extend coverage to re-
search conducted in university–industry consortia.
• Provide new tax incentives for early-stage investments in innovative
startups.
• Provide more favorable tax treatment (expensing and accelerated
depreciation) for the purchase of high-technology manufacturing equipment
to encourage industry to keep manufacturing in the United States.
Human Capital
• Create incentives for investments by employers and employees in
lifelong learning, including the creation of tax-protected accounts.
• Restructure and expand worker-assistance programs like the Trade
Adjustment Assistance program so that they are more flexible and cover
workers displaced by reasons other than trade.
• Expedite the immigration process, including issuance of permanent
residence status (green cards) to all master’s and doctoral graduates of US
institutions in science and engineering.
• Make H1-B visas “portable” to reduce the possibility of visa holder’s
being exploited and to reduce the negative impacts on US workers in those
fields.
• Fund new programs that promote entrepreneurship at all levels of
education.
• Reform policies toward health and pension benefits.
• Require companies operating in the United States to be transparent
in reporting offshoring decisions.
• Use procurement policies to discourage government contractors from
offshoring by requiring that certain tasks be performed by US workers.
New “Apollo”
• Gain presidential-level commitment to the proposition that sustain-
ing and enhancing US ability to innovate is a key national priority.
• Have the President issue a major challenge encompassing federal re-
search and all aspects of the innovation process to mobilize resources in
pursuit of a critical national goal. The candidate fields for such a challenge
include energy, space, and healthcare.
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458 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
Support for Regional Innovation
• Establish a program of national innovation centers, or “hot spots,”
with matching funds from states and educational institutions.
• Designate a lead agency to coordinate regional economic-development
programs to ensure that there is a common focus on innovation-based
growth.
INNOVATION AND THE ECONOMY
Wm. A. Wulf points out that “there is no simple formula for innova-
tion. There is, instead, a multi-component ‘environment’ that collectively
encourages, or discourages, innovation.”2 This environment includes re-
search funding, an educated workforce, a culture that encourages risk-
taking, a financial system that provides patient capital for entrepreneurial
activity, intellectual-property protection, and other elements.
The significance of this innovation environment has long been a subject
of study. As far back as Adam Smith, economists have been interested in
technologic innovation and its impact on economic growth.3 Early in the
20th century, Joseph Schumpeter argued that innovation was the most im-
portant feature of the capitalist economy. Starting in the 1950s, Robert
Solow and others developed methods of accounting for the sources of
growth, leading to the observation that technologic change is responsible
for over half the observed growth in labor productivity and national in-
come. These methods are subject to continued debate and refinement. For
example, over long periods the contributions of technologic change and
other causes of growth—such as worker skills, capital deepening, and insti-
tutional change—are highly interactive and difficult to separate.
Other economists have focused on a more qualitative study of the insti-
tutions and practices underlying innovation in individual industries and
entire economies. The effort to understand “national innovations systems”
has been one focus of recent studies.4 Others have examined the perfor-
mance of particular industries.5 The Sloan Foundation has given under-
standing innovation a high priority in its funding.6
2Wm. A. Wulf. 2005. “Review and Renewal of the Environment for Innovation.” Unpub-
lished Paper.
3J. Mokyr. Innovation in an Historical Perspective: Tales of Technology and Evolution. In
B. Steil, D. G. Victor, and R. R. Nelson, eds. Technological Innovation and Economic Perfor-
mance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002.
4R. R. Nelson, ed. National Innovation Systems: A Comparative Analysis. New York: Ox-
ford University Press, 1993.
5National Research Council. US Industry in 2000: Studies in Competitive Performance.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999.
6See the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Web site. Available at: http://www.sloan.org.
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APPENDIX D
This literature underscores the importance of the environment for inno-
vation and points to several lessons from recent history. Japan’s growth
trajectory in various S&E inputs and outputs (such as R&D investments,
S&E personnel, and patents) since the early 1990s has been similar to what
it was before.7 Yet the Japanese economy’s ability to reap the rewards of
innovation in the form of higher productivity and incomes was much higher
in the earlier period. This can be explained partly by the dual nature of the
Japanese economy, where world-class manufacturing industries serving a
global market exist side by side with inefficient industries, such as construc-
tion.8 Economic mismanagement and a lack of flexibility in factor markets
(labor and capital) also have played an important role.
In contrast, in the mid-1990s the United States saw a jump in produc-
tivity growth from the levels that had prevailed since the first oil shock of
the early 1970s.9 In addition to gains in information technology (IT) manu-
facturing productivity, productivity gains from IT use and the creation of
new business methods that take advantage of IT were widespread through-
out the economy (see Figure EI-1).
It is important to note that science and technology and the innovation
process are not zero-sum games in the international context.10 The United
States has proved adept in the past at taking advantage of breakthroughs
and inventions from abroad, such as the jet engine and monoclonal
antibodies.11
Groups and individuals have made numerous recommendations for
change in the US environment for innovation.
MARKET, REGULATORY, AND LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
Many analyses of innovation focus on the supply side of the equation,
such as the size and composition of R&D spending, the number of S&E
graduates, and so forth. The importance of the demand side is sometimes
7A. S. Posen. Japan. In R. Nelson, B. Steil, and D. Victor, eds. Technological Innovation and
Economic Performance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002. Pp. 74-111.
8D. W. Jorgenson and M. Kuroda. Technology, Productivity, and the Competitiveness of US
and Japanese Industries. In T. Arrison, C. F. Bergsten, E. M. Graham, and M. C. Harris, eds.
Japan’s Growing Technological Capability: Implications for the US Economy. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press, 1992.
9W. Norhaus. The Source of the Productivity Rebound and the Manufacturing Employment
Puzzle. NBER Working Paper 11354. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Re-
search, 2005.
10Wm. A. Wulf. Observations on Science and Technology Trends: Their Potential Impact on
Our Future. In A. G. K. Solomon, ed. Technology Futures and Global Wealth, Power and
Conflict. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2005.
11NAS/NAE/IOM. Capitalizing on Investments in Science and Technology. Washington,
DC: National Academy Press, 1999.
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460 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
FIGURE EI-1 Contribution of different industries to the productivity rebound, by
broad industry group, 1998-2003.
SOURCE: W. Nordhaus. The Source of the Productivity Rebound and the
Manufacturing Employment Puzzle. NBER Working Paper 11354. Cambridge, MA:
National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005. Table 4, p. 24. Available at: http://
www.nber.org/papers/w11354.
neglected. The imperative of meeting the needs of demanding buyers and
consumers plays a key role in driving the creation and diffusion of innova-
tions. An open dynamic market is the source of US competitive strength in
a range of industries. Even under the “Dell model”—in which development,
manufacturing, and other functions are sourced and performed around the
globe—contact with customers and knowledge of their needs is a critical
capability that Dell keeps inhouse.12
In contrast, industries and economies where markets are closed, com-
petition is limited, or consumer rights are not protected tend to act as a drag
on innovation and growth. McKinsey and Company’s international studies
on sector productivity during the 1990s showed that competitive markets
were the key factor separating successes and failures.13
A wide variety of policies and practices influence the market, regulatory,
and legal environment for innovation. These include financial regulations,
12T. L. Friedman. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. New York: Farrar,
Straus, and Giroux, 2005. Pp. 414-419.
13W. W. Lewis. The Power of Productivity: Wealth, Poverty, and the Threat to Global
Stability. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
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461
APPENDIX D
where the Sarbanes–Oxley Act has produced a number of changes in recent
years. In addition, the costs of US approaches to litigation affecting product
liability and securities fraud are a perennial target of industry groups.
Given the fact that the United States has lagged behind a number of
other countries in broadband access (see Figure EI-2) and the potential posi-
tive impact of better and cheaper network access for the economy and the
research enterprise in particular, the complex regulations governing tele-
communications, the broadcast spectrum, and related areas would seem a
promising target of reform.
Possible federal actions include the following:
• “The impact of new regulations on market investments in innovation
should be more carefully and collaboratively assessed by a public-private Fi-
nancial Markets Intermediary Committee, where periodic meetings can score
existing and proposed legislation. This committee would follow the model of
the Foreign Exchange Committee and Treasury Borrowing Committee.”14
• “The country should set a goal to reduce the costs of tort litigation
from the current level of two percent of GDP [gross domestic product]—
some $200 billion—down to one percent.”15
• Reform Section 404 of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which requires an
internal control report in the company’s annual report. “Many small and
medium-sized companies have serious concern with Section 404 and the
expense of the internal control reporting requirements. Small and medium-
sized companies are disproportionately burdened by Section 404, and these
provisions need to be examined to ensure a proper balance between ac-
countability and bureaucracy.”
• Drop efforts to expense stock options. “No industry has benefited
more than the high-tech industry from the use of stock options. Stock op-
tions provide employees with a direct link to the growth and profitability of
companies. They also are an essential tool for attracting and retaining the
best workforce, especially for small businesses and start-ups who do not
always have the capital to compete on salary alone. Already China and
India have learned from the successful use of stock options in Silicon Valley
and are using it to attract and retain businesses and employees.”
• “The Federal government, through the Internal Revenue Service or
Treasury Department, should establish clear guidelines in the Internal Rev-
enue Code on the acceptability of investment of foundation assets in start-
up ventures.”16
14Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 65.
15Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 65
16Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 62.
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462 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
Broadband Subscribers
Rank Country
per 100 Inhabitants
FIGURE EI-2 Ranking of select countries by broadband subscribers per capita.
SOURCE: M. Calabrese, Vice President and Director, Wireless Future Program, New
America Foundation. “Broadcast to Broadband: Completing the Digital Television
Transition Can Jumpstart Affordable Wireless Broadband.” US Senate Testimony,
July 12, 2005.
• “The Federal government should encourage best practices and pro-
cesses for standards bodies to align incentives for collaborative standard
setting, and to encourage broad participation.”17
• Congress should “use the DTV transition to encourage both licensed
and unlicensed wireless broadband networks as competitive alternatives to
wireline cable and DSL offerings.”18
• “Provide industry the incentives to promote broadband and cellular
penetration. Countries like South Korea and Italy have realized enormous
competitive advantages by investing heavily in broadband and cellular de-
ployment. Just as the interstate highway system dramatically increased the
efficiency and productivity of the US economy half a century ago, so too
can efficient communications networks have the same positive effect today.
Broadband and cellular diffusion also foster competitive advantages by cre-
ating demand for cutting edge products and services.”19
TRADE
Multilateral trade liberalization has been a goal of US policy-makers of
both political parties since the end of World War II. The renewal of large
US trade deficits in recent years has spurred debate over how to correct it
and other global imbalances. The very large US deficit with China has pro-
17Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 70.
18M. Calabrese, Vice President and Director, Wireless Future Program, New America Foun-
dation. Testimony to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, US Senate.
Hearing on “Broadcast to Broadband: Completing the Digital Television Transition Can
Jumpstart Affordable Wireless Broadband.” July 12, 2005.
19American Electronics Association, 2005, p. 26.
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463
APPENDIX D
duced calls for exchange-rate adjustment and other measures. In many im-
portant respects, China’s industrial-development strategy has followed the
export-led “playbook” developed by Japan, Korea, and other high-growth
Asian economies during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.20
Improving the protection of intellectual property worldwide, and espe-
cially in such large countries as China where piracy rates are high, has been
a policy focus of industry groups (see Figure EI-3). It is important to note
that China’s laws and policies have come into line with international stan-
dards as a result of its accession to the World Trade Organization, so the
main issue is enforcement.
Possible federal actions include the following:
• “Promote stronger enforcement of intellectual property protection
worldwide. Intellectual property is typically the core asset of any high-tech
company. From patents and copyrights to software and trade secrets, intel-
lectual property forms the basis of the knowledge economy. Far too often,
foreign legal systems do not adequately protect the owner of these valuable
creations, resulting in the loss of literally billions of dollars. The Business
Software Alliance estimated that 36 percent of software worldwide was
illegally pirated in 2003. This translates to a $29 billion loss in revenue. In
China, this figure is 92 percent and the revenue loss is estimated at $3.8
billion. Digital technology has made intellectual property theft that much
easier on a wide scale. When foreign companies and consumers can steal
this hard-earned property, the profitability and, ultimately, the competi-
tiveness of US companies suffer.”
• Make conclusions of the Doha Round a top priority. “The United
States economy has gained greatly from liberalization of trade worldwide
and from the rules-based system facilitated by the World Trade Organiza-
tion (WTO). The Doha round of trade talks broke down in the summer of
2003 as negotiations on agriculture and certain service sectors reached an
impasse. As a result, the United States risks losing momentum in further
opening global markets to US products and services.”21
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
With the rise of knowledge-based industries and a number of legisla-
tive, judicial, and administrative actions, intellectual-property protection in
the United States has been significantly strengthened over the last 25 years.22
20R. Samuelson. China’s Devalued Concession. The Washington Post, July 26, 2005. P.
A19.
21American Electronics Association, 2005, p. 25.
22W. M. Cohen and S. A. Merrill, eds. Patents in the Knowledge-Based Economy. Washing-
ton, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003.
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464 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
FIGURE EI-3 Ranking of 2004 piracy loses.
SOURCE: Business Software Alliance and IDC. Second Annual BSA and IDC Global
Software Piracy Study. Washington, DC: Business Software Alliance. Available at:
http://www.bsa.org/globalstudy/upload/2005-Global-Study-English.pdf.
With the increase in the value of a US patent have come an increase in
patenting and greater focus by companies and other inventors on the man-
agement of intellectual property as an asset. In this environment, debate
continues on how to tweak US intellectual-property policies so that they
maximize incentives for the generation and broad diffusion of innovations.
Possible federal actions include the following:
• “Reduce redundancies and inconsistencies among national patent
systems. The United States, Europe, and Japan should further harmonize
patent examination procedures and standards to reduce redundancy in
search and examination and eventually achieve mutual recognition of re-
sults. Differences that need reconciling include application priority (first-to-
invent versus first-inventor-to-file), the grace period for filing an applica-
tion after publication, the best mode requirement of US law, and the US
exception to the rule of publication of patent applications after 18 months.
This objective should continue to be pursued on a trilateral or even bilateral
basis if multilateral negotiations are not progressing.”23
23National Research Council. A Patent System for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press, 2004. P. 8.
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APPENDIX D
• “Strengthen USPTO capabilities. To improve its performance the
USPTO needs additional resources to hire and train additional examiners
and fully implement a robust electronic processing capability. Further, the
USPTO should create a strong multidisciplinary analytical capability to as-
sess management practices and proposed changes, provide an early warning
of new technologies being proposed for patenting, and conduct reliable,
consistent, reputable quality reviews that address office-wide and individual
examiner performance. The current USPTO budget is not adequate to ac-
complish these objectives.”24
• “Institute an Open Review procedure. Congress should seriously
consider legislation creating a procedure for third parties to challenge pat-
ents after their issuance in a proceeding before administrative patent judges
of the USPTO. The grounds for a challenge could be any of the statutory
standards—novelty, utility, non-obviousness, disclosure, or enablement—
or even the case law proscription in patenting abstract ideas and natural
phenomena. The time, cost, and other characteristics of this proceeding
should make it an attractive alternative to litigation to resolve patent valid-
ity questions both for private disputants and for federal district courts. The
courts could more productively focus their attention on patent infringement
issues if they were able to refer validity questions to an Open Review pro-
ceeding.”25
• “Leverage the patent database as an innovation tool. Develop pilot
projects (jointly funded by industry, universities and government) to high-
light techniques for leveraging patent data for discovery.”26
TAX POLICY
Tax policy is another element of the environment for innovation. The
research and experimentation tax credit (popularly known as the R&D tax
credit) is a longstanding feature of the tax code, although it is generally
renewed year to year. The tax treatment of investments in startup compa-
nies and purchases of high-technology manufacturing equipment have also
been the focus of recent recommendations.
Possible federal actions include the following:
• “The federal government should provide a 25 percent tax credit for
early stage investments when made through qualified angel funds. The indi-
24Ibid., p. 7. Similar recommendations appear in Council on Competitiveness, 2004, and
American Electronics Association, 2005. The latter two reports recommend stopping diver-
sion of patent-application fees to general revenue.
25National Research Council, 2004, p. 6. A similar recommendation appears in Council on
Competitiveness, 2004.
26Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 70.
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466 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
viduals participating in these funds would need to make a minimum invest-
ment of $50,000 each year in order to receive the tax credit. Acceptable
investments would be restricted to those that meet requirements for revenue
size and age of firm.”27
• “Enact a permanent, restructured R&E tax credit and extend the
credit to research conducted in university-industry consortia.”28
• Allow more favorable tax treatment of purchases of high-technology
manufacturing equipment. “Accelerated depreciation or expensing of high
technology equipment would have a particularly positive investment im-
pact. Many of our economic competitors—who actively seek to lure invest-
ment in semiconductor manufacturing overseas—offer far more favorable
tax treatment than that offered in the United States. As part of the discus-
sion of fundamental reforms of the tax code to promote investment and
manufacturing in the US, the Congress should consider allowing companies
to expense high technology equipment.”29
• “Use the required repeal of the Foreign Sales Corporation exemp-
tion to fund a revenue-neutral tax credit for investment in information-
processing equipment, software, and industrial equipment. In response to
WTO rulings, Congress passed a reduction of the corporate tax rate, which
really does little to encourage companies to be more competitive and inno-
vative. An investment tax credit would help companies increase investment
which would in turn boost productivity. Moreover, it would make US
companies more likely to invest in equipment in the United States and not
overseas.”30
HUMAN CAPITAL
A highly skilled, flexible labor force is an essential component of this
nation’s ability to reap the benefits of innovation. Recent debates over work-
force issues have revolved around several issues.
The first trend is that growing numbers of service industries and their
labor forces are becoming subject to global competition, a condition with
which manufacturing industries have long familiarity. Offshore outsourcing
of business process and IT jobs, or “offshoring,” is growing rapidly (see
27Ibid., p. 62.
28Ibid., p. 59. There are similar recommendations in numerous other reports, including
National Academy of Engineering. Mastering a New Role: Prospering in a Global Economy.
Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993; and American Electronics Association, 2005.
29Semiconductor Industry Association Web site. Available at: http://www.sia-online.org/
backgrounders_ tax.cfm.
30R. Atkinson. Meeting the Offshoring Challenge. Washington, DC: Progressive Policy In-
stitute, 2004.
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467
APPENDIX D
Figure EI-4). Aspects of research and education are included. There are
strong disagreements about what outsourcing means, the ultimate impacts,
and policy prescriptions.31 In any case, the trend reinforces the imperative
for the promotion of lifelong learning in the United States. As illustrated by
Figure EI-5, working adults and other nontraditional students are of grow-
ing importance in fields like computer science. Calls to rethink approaches
to incentives for continuing education and trade-displacement assistance
programs have come from several quarters.
A second element focuses on the immigration of scientists, engineers,
and other skilled professionals who contribute to the innovation process.
Several recent reports have suggested ways to encourage skilled foreigners
to continue immigrating. US openness to people and ideas from around the
world is a longstanding strength of the American environment for innova-
tion.32 In particular, immigrant scientist-engineer-entrepreneurs from
Alexander Graham Bell and Andrew Carnegie to Andrew Grove have played
key roles in the creation of leading US companies and entire industries.
A third human-capital issue is the reform of health insurance, pensions,
and other public and private benefits infrastructures. The goals here are to
make these systems sustainable from a long-term cost perspective and to
help them support a workforce that is increasingly mobile and less likely to
be employed by large organizations for extended periods.
A fourth issue is the promotion of education about entrepreneurship at
various educational levels, including S&E education. Among the recom-
mendations that have been suggested are these:
• “Create the human capital investment tax credit to promote con-
tinuous education. Companies often lack incentives to invest in educating
and retraining workers as they risk losing that return on investment if the
worker subsequently leaves the firm. By providing human-capital invest-
ment tax credits, the US government can encourage companies to retrain
workers by reducing or eliminating out-of-pocket costs. At the forefront of
technology innovation, companies are often the best predictor of what skills
will be most valuable in the future. Continuous retraining, education, and
skills acquisition ensure that fewer technology workers will find themselves
suddenly displaced with no skills to participate in the constantly shifting
31For a point-counterpoint see R. Hira and A. Hira. Outsourcing America: What’s Behind
Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs. Washington, DC: AMACOM
Books, 2005; D. Farrell, M. Laboissière, R. Pascal, J. Rosenfeld, C. de Segundo, S. Stürze, and
F. Umezawa. The Emerging Global Labor Market. New York: McKinsey Global Institute,
2005.
32NAS/NAE/IOM, 1999.
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468 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
$Billion Project Compound
Annual Growth Rate
%
2,372*
1,697
100%
90 7
Other 97
Services*
Offshoring to Low-
10 ~30
3
Wage Locations
2008E
2003
FIGURE EI-4 Business Process Outsourcing/IT offshore to low-wage locations as a
percentage of total global services exports, 2003 and 2008.
NOTE: *Estimated at 6 percent annual growth from 2002 figure.
SOURCE: McKinsey and Company. “The Emerging Global Labor Market.” June
2005. Executive Summary, p. 19.
high-tech industry. Furthermore, society would benefit from the continuous
education of workers, which also increases productivity and decreases
downtime between jobs.”33
• Create lifelong learning accounts for employees that allow tax-
exempt contributions by workers and tax credits for employer contributions.34
• “Reform and rename the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program to
cover workers displaced for reasons other than trade, including service sec-
tor workers.”35
• “Offer more flexibility and focus under federal-state employment and
training programs. States and the federal government should have more discre-
tion to devote employment and training resources toward high-performance
programs, high-growth skills and skills in demand by local firms.”36
33American Electronics Association, 2005, p. 26.
34Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 54.
35Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 56.
36Ibid.
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469
APPENDIX D
FIGURE EI-5 Top producers of computer science bachelor’s degree, 2001.
SOURCE: American Association for the Advancement of Science. Preparing Women
and Minorities for the IT Workforce: The Role of Nontraditional Educational
Pathways. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science,
2005. Available at: http://www.aaas.org/publications/books_reports/ITW/PDFs/
Complete_book.pdf.
• “Expand temporary wage supplements that help move workers more
quickly off unemployment insurance and into new jobs and on-the-job train-
ing. The Alternative Trade Adjustment for Older Workers Program should
be expanded to include younger workers and should not be linked exclu-
sively to trade dislocation.”37
• “Re-institute H1-B training grants to ensure that Americans are
trained in the skills and fields for which companies now bring in foreign
nationals.”38
• “Establish an expedited immigration process, including automatic
work permits and residency status for foreign students who: a) hold gradu-
ate degrees in S&E from American universities, b) have been offered jobs by
US-based employers and who have passed security screening tests.”39
37Ibid.
38Ibid.
39Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 51.
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470 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
• “Give green cards to all US trained master and doctoral students.
Accredited US colleges and universities award 8,000 doctoral and 56,000
master’s degrees in S&E to foreign nationals per year. Instead of sending
these people back to their countries, they should be given a Green Card to
stay in the United States. These people will make significant contributions
to the economy and workforce. The United States benefits by keeping them
here.”40
• “H1-B visas should be made ‘portable’ so that a foreign temporary
nonimmigrant worker can more easily change jobs in the United States.”41
• The National Science Foundation should take a significant role in
funding pilot efforts to create innovation-oriented learning environments in
K–12 and higher education. It also should sponsor research into the pro-
cesses involved in teaching creativity, inventiveness, and commercialization
in technical environments.42
• The federal government should create legal certainty for cash-
balance pension plans to ensure that employers can continue to offer them.
These plans are popular with many employees and have significant advan-
tages over many defined-contribution plans.43
• Have the states and the federal government encourage the wide-
spread availability of Health Savings Accounts, including affordable op-
tions for low-income workers, as a health-insurance option that provides
portability for employees.44
• “States and the federal government should define a role for govern-
ment re-insurance of higher-cost healthcare expenses, so as to reduce the
cost of employer-provided coverage and reduce the cost of healthcare to
employees.”45
• “Government procurement rules should favor work done in the
United States and should restrict the offshoring of work in any instance
where there is not a clear long-term economic benefit to the nation or where
the work supports technologies that are critical to our national economic or
military security.”46
40American Electronics Association, 2005, p. 25. A similar recommendation appears in
Council on Competitiveness, 2004.
41National Research Council. Building a Workforce for the Information Economy. Wash-
ington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001.
42Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 53.
43Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 55.
44Ibid.
45Ibid.
46Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Position Statement on Offshore
Outsourcing. Washington, DC: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2004. Avail-
able at: www.ieeeusa.org/policy/positions/offshoring.asp. A similar recommendation appears
on the Economic Policy Institute Web site.
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471
APPENDIX D
• Require transparent disclosure of offshoring. “The publicly owned
firms that engage in offshoring ought to at least be transparent in their
business dealings, offering layoff notices and providing clear accounting of
the employment in their various units, both domestic and abroad.”47
SUPPORTING CLUSTERS AND REGIONS
The tendency of innovative capabilities (such as research, manufactur-
ing, educational institutions, and the workforce) to conglomerate in specific
regions has been a subject of economic inquiry for some time.48 The Coun-
cil on Competitiveness sponsored a multiyear initiative to study the phe-
nomenon in the US context.49 One recent analysis postulates that regions
need to draw a “creative class” human-resource base to compete effectively
in knowledge-intensive industries.50 Although many of the policy levers to
promote regional innovation are in the hands of state and local govern-
ments, the federal government could play a larger role through such actions
as the following:
• “The federal government should create at least ten Innovation Hot
Spots over the next five years. State and local economic development enti-
ties and educational institutions should raise matching funds and develop
proposals to operate these pilot national innovation centers.”51
• “Innovation Partnerships need to be created to bridge the traditional
gap that has existed between the long-term discovery process and com-
mercialization. These new partnerships would involve academia, business
and government, and they would be tailored to capture regional interests
and economic clusters.”52
• “The federal government should establish a lead agency for economic
development programs to coordinate regional efforts and ensure that a com-
mon focus on innovation-based growth is being implemented.”53
47Economic Policy Institute. EPI Issue Guide: Offshoring. Washington, DC: Economic Policy
Institute, 2004.
48M. J. Piore and C. F. Sabel. The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity.
New York: Basic Books, 1984.
49Council on Competitiveness. Clusters of Innovation: Regional Foundations of US Com-
petitiveness. Washington, DC: Council on Competitiveness, 2001.
50R. Florida. The Rise of the Creative Class . . . and How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure,
Community, & Everyday Life. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
51Council on Competitiveness, 2004, p. 62.
52Ibid., p. 53.
53Ibid., p. 62.
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472 RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM
NEW “APOLLO,” “SPUTNIK,” OR “MANHATTAN PROJECT”
As part of the 2004-2005 debate over the sustainability of US S&E
leadership, some individuals and groups have called for a presidential-level
challenge to mobilize resources and national imagination in an effort that
also would grow the S&E enterprise. Somewhat related is the call for the
President to identify innovation as having a major national priority. Spe-
cific recommendations include the following:
• Launch an explicit national innovation strategy and agenda led by the
President. “Innovation is the critical pathway to building prosperity and com-
petitive advantage for advanced economies. Yet no single institution in gov-
ernment or the private sector has the horizontal responsibility for strengthen-
ing the innovation ecosystem at the national level—it is and always will be a
shared responsibility. The United States should establish an explicit national
innovation strategy and agenda, including an aggressive public policy strat-
egy that energizes the environment for national innovation.”54
• “Establish a focal point within the Executive Office of the Presi-
dent to frame, assess and coordinate strategically the future direction of
the nation’s innovation policies. This could be either a Cabinet-level inter-
agency group, or a new, distinct mission assigned to the National Eco-
nomic Council.”55
• “Establish an explicit innovation agenda. Direct the President’s eco-
nomic advisors to analyze the impact of current economic policies on US inno-
vation capabilities and identify opportunities for immediate improvement.”56
• “Direct the Cabinet officers to undertake a policy, program and bud-
get review and propose initiatives designed to foster innovation within and
across departments. This is an opportunity to break down ‘stovepipes’ and
foster closer collaboration among the agencies to meet clear national needs.”57
• “The United States should build an integrated healthcare capability
by the end of the decade.”58
• Apply information technology, research, and systems-engineering
tools to US healthcare delivery.59
• Launch a US-China crash program to develop alternative energies.60
54Ibid., p. 66.
55Ibid.
56Ibid.
57Ibid.
58Ibid.,p. 74.
59National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine. Building a Better Delivery
System: A New Engineering/Health Care Partnership. Washington, DC: The National Acad-
emies Press, 2005.
60Friedman, 2005, p. 413.
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