Wind Power Engineering & Development – Norman Augustine: A grave R&D gap in U.S.
Source: Wind Power Engineering & Development, 10/25/2011
ASP Board Member Norman Augustine is a featured author.
Excerpt:
“America is in grave danger of losing its edge. For over one hundred years, American leadership in science, technology, engineering, and manufacturing has been unrivaled. It has created for us not only one of the highest standards of living any civilization has ever achieved, but also brought American preeminence in the world and a strong national defense.
Now, unfortunately, this is all at risk due to the lack of long-term planning, little political will, and slowing investment in science and engineering research.
Every business leader knows that prosperity tomorrow requires investment today. This is true whether the economy is in a period of boom or bust. The United States will not simply “grow” its way out of economic malaise. We need a rebirth of innovation: new products, new ways of doing things, new scientific achievements.
Let’s looks at the facts about research and development (R&D). As a percentage of GDP, the U.S. ranks eighth, behind countries such as Japan, South Korea, and even Iceland. In one of the most important areas—energy—in 2010 the Department of Energy invested just $2.27 billion on applied R&D, or just slightly more than 1/100th of one percent of GDP. As a point of comparison, that’s nearly $1 billion less than the amount ($3.1 billion) we’ll spend in 2011 providing a tax benefit for employee parking.
R&D is not the only area where we are falling behind…
