by Gary Jones
FLC Washington, DC Representative
Greetings from DC. The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently issued "Science and Engineering Indicators 2008," the 18th in a series of biennial reports "designed to provide a broad base of quantitative information about U.S. science, engineering and technology for use by public and private policymakers." As noted in this column on the occasion of the 2006 report, this document is one of the best sources of data on the general state of the U.S. science and technology (S&T) enterprise, and should be required reading for anyone interested in the continual policy debates on how we are faring in this most critical area.
The overarching conclusions in 2008: The S&T world continues to undergo rapid changes following trends that emerged in the late 1990s, "resulting in a shift in the epicenter of world S&T activities, led by China's emergence, toward several rapidly growing Asian economies." These shifts have produced variable impacts in the developed world, as China's emergence has been accompanied by the stagnation/decline of Japan and the European Union (EU) in a number of S&T-related indicators. The U.S. continues to "hold its own, thanks, in part, to its large, mature, and diversified S&T system. But, it too, faces robust challenges affecting its education, workforce, R&D, and S&T systems that arise from the far-reaching and rapid world-wide changes." A few selected U.S. highlights follow.
General Science and Engineering Indicators
R&D investment patterns
- The U.S. continues to invest the greatest absolute amount in R&D ($340 billion in current dollars), besting the other G-7 nations combined—as it has done for two decades.
- The U.S. federal government continues to be the largest source of funding for basic research, funding nearly 60 percent, while industry funds 17 percent (industry funds 83 percent of development with the federal government funding about 6 percent). The federal share of R&D funding overall is 28 percent.
Science and engineering (S&E) workforce development
- In every decade since 1960, the U.S. S&E workforce has grown faster than the overall workforce (today, S&E workers comprise about 4 percent of the total U.S. civilian workforce, up from 2.6 percent in 1983).
- The number of S&E degrees awarded by U.S. colleges and universities continues to grow (S&E research doctorates peaked in 2006 at 30,000, driven in large part by a growing number of doctorates awarded to non-U.S. citizens).
Knowledge output
- U.S. S&E article output increased 1.3 percent annually between 2000 and 2005 (and accounted for 29 percent of the world total in 2005; Japan was second with 8 percent).
- The U.S. continues to be the leading source of triadic patent families (with 20,000 filings). (Note: A triadic patent family consists of those inventions for which protection is sought in the world's three largest markets: the U.S., E.U., and Japan).
Workforce Development - Education Indicators
- In 2004, about 59 percent of public secondary schools in the U.S. reported vacancies in math teaching positions, with one-third indicating difficulty filling them.
- The number of S&E B.S. degrees awarded to women and minorities has largely increased over the last two decades, but not in the physical sciences, math or engineering.
Global Marketplace Indicators
- The U.S. is second only to Japan among the G-7 nations in R&D intensity (R&D spending as a percentage of GDP). The U.S. spends about 2.6 percent (Japan is over 3.0 percent).
- The U.S. has held a 35 percent share of world revenue in all high-tech manufacturing since 2001, and leads in all high-tech manufacturing sectors except office and computing machinery (where China leads).
- The U.S. continues to lead in world revenue for all three market-oriented, knowledge-intensive service industries (business, communications and financial services), earning about 40 percent of world revenue annually between 1995 and 2005).
This year's edition is notable not only for the data it contains, but for the first-ever recognition of the data it does not contain. The report identifies numerous areas where insufficient data exist; including but not limited to data on teacher preparation and quality (particularly in the STEM fields), international S&T workforce characteristics, industrial R&D by line of business, and innovation indicators such as technology licensing and data on technology parks and incubators, among others.
Even with these data gaps, I believe this volume remains the single best source of information on the topics, and I encourage those interested in S&T policy to take a closer look.
"Science and Engineering Indicators 2008" and its two companion pieces, "Digest of Key Science and Engineering Indicators" and "Research and Development: Essential Foundations for U.S. Competitiveness in a Global Economy," can be found on the NSF website.
Gary can be reached at gkjones@federallabs.org.
