Bolstered by both private and public investments in R& D, American technological innovation spawned new industries, revolutionized the way manufacturing was done, and raised expectations as to how products should perform. U.S. leadership in the world economy was made possible by these many technological breakthroughs-breakthroughs made possible by the U.S. science and engineering enterprise during the 20th century.
Today, the United States is facing a challenging global economy that becomes more dynamic and more intensely competitive with each passing decade. Previously, the lower paid, labor-intensive U.S. industries fell victim to global competition; by the 1980s, however, U.S. high-tech industries also found intense foreign competition-especially from Japan and Europe-in markets they once dominated. And in the 1990s, competition opened on yet another front as several of the newly industrialized economies (NIEs) posed new challenges for U.S. producers.
A nation's competitiveness is often evaluated on its ability to produce goods that find demand in international markets while simultaneously maintaining, if not improving, the standard of living of its citizens.(Click here for footnote 1.) Although the U.S. economy continues to rank as the world's largest, and Americans continue to enjoy one of the world's higher standards of living, many other parts of the world are closing the gap. (See figure 6-1 and appendix tables 6-1, 6-2, and 6-3.) The Clinton Administration makes the connection between investments in technology and a growing economy. Clinton and Gore (1993) envision
The new administration sees the U.S. science and technology enterprise as a resource that needs to be more committed to American industry in order that a new U.S. paradigm for economic growth might be defined that can enhance U.S. industrial competitiveness and sustain the U.S. standard of living. This chapter brings together information on S& T activities that are key elements of this new paradigm: technology development and the competitiveness of U.S. industries that rely on and commercialize new technologies.
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