The US is in danger of losing its Technological Edge

Today the world is inundated with advanced technology. It would be nearly impossible to go 24 hours without interacting with it in some form or another. For decades, the U.S. has harnessed technology in an innovative fashion to address the issues and challenges it faces around the world. This process has helped drive the country’s economic growth. At our core, we create technologies that empower people and organizations, and in ways that were previously unimaginable.

Unfortunately, we’re beginning to lose our edge. Looking back 50 years, you’ll find that R&D spending accounted for just about 12 percent of the total U.S. budget. Now, that has dropped to a bit more than three percent. To put that into perspective, a recent Bloomberg study pinpointed the most innovative countries in the world. When looking at R&D Intensity, here are the results:

1. South Korea
2. Israel
3. Finland
4. Sweden
5. Japan
6. Denmark
7. Germany
8. Switzerland
9. Austria
10. Slovenia

Even though the United States was ranked sixth overall — already no longer in the top five — it didn’t make the top ten when it came to the R&D evaluation. It came in eleventh! Keep in mind R&D is quite frequently the catalyst of future technology innovations.

While that is concerning, another study found that China is emerging as a serious contributor to global technology development. The supporting data found that 67 percent agree or strongly agree that over the next 5 to 10 years China will be a source of major innovation in specific tech sectors, including electronics and software. In that same survey, 76 percent agree or strongly agree that China will be a disruptive force in the global technology market within the next 5 to 10 years.

When you examine China’s tech sector, you can’t help but be impressed by the rate in which it improved in the last few years. On the other side, 49 percent of those surveyed see the emerging tech centers in the U.S. as little or no threat! Only 8 percent felt they were a significant threat. Whatever happened to good old American ingenuity?

That is a dramatic change. The social, economic influence and security issues this creates are huge. Even the U.S. Pentagon expressed concern over the U.S. losing its military technological superiority to rivals. An article published last year clearly stated the U.S. is no longer the technology leader in military gear. Now add to that the statement before the House Armed Services Committee made by U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work who said that “bold action” is necessary if the U.S. is to keep the lead in technology. Technology innovation and creative application of those new technologies are an increasing part of global competitiveness and a country’s security and influence, as well as global power. Looking out over the next three to five years, several technologies are poised to enter the accelerated advancement and adoption state of their evolution during the same window of time.

The U.S. does not know how to be viewed as anything but first when it comes to technology. Addressing this decline has to rapidly become a national priority driven by the leaders in the U.S. government and industry. The U.S. has no time to waste, given the rapid pace of technological advancement and the continued growth in competition. A technology renaissance is needed now if the U.S. is to retain its technological dominance.

The next era of rapid technology advancement is at hand. Unlike other similar events, this one will be fueled by multiple technologies all entering into their rapid advancement and adoption stage of evolution in the same period of time. The United States had better get to work and work collectively to address this competitive challenge or we will all fail together and fall further behind for sure.

This story was originally published on ExtremeTech. See it here