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Media Advisory

NSB Statement on U.S. Science and Engineering Leadership

March 8, 2024

The National Science Board approved the statement below on U.S. science and engineering leadership. It reiterates that the nation continues to fall behind others on more and more global metrics, like research publications, patents, and knowledge-and-technology-intensive manufacturing.

 

March 8, 2024

NSB Statement on U.S. Science and Engineering Leadership

For the past decade, with each release of its Science & Engineering Indicators report, the National Science Board (NSB) has sounded the alarm as the U.S.’s lead has eroded on more and more global science and engineering (S&E) metrics. As Indicators 2024 shows, China has now surpassed us in STEM talent production, research publications, patents, and knowledge-and technology-intensive manufacturing. Further details on the global S&E metrics can be found in The State of U.S. Science & Engineering 2024, which will be released on March 13th.

China has set the goal of being the world’s leading S&E nation and these NSB reports demonstrate that the United States is on the verge of allowing them to realize that objective. We already see this in artificial intelligence, where China out publishes us, has more patents, and produces more students than the United States. Every year that the United States does not meet the ambitious, but necessary, pace of investment in our nation’s S&E enterprise set by the CHIPS & Science Act is a year that we cede more ground to our global competitors, endangering U.S. national security and economic prosperity.

 

Media Contact: Elizabeth Jeffers, ejeffers@nsf.gov 

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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