Embargoed until:
NSF PR 98-34 (NSB 98-125) - July 1, 1998
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Upswing in Industrial R&D Creating Positive Economic
Benefits
New Data Released in S&E Indicators
Increases in industrial research and development (R&D)
activities are the highest recorded since the early
1980s, according to a new National Science Board (NSB)
report to Congress.
The importance of public research to industry is also
stronger today than ever, as reported in the newest
edition of Science and Engineering Indicators
1998.
According to the 800-page report, the rise in industrial
R&D investments is due to intense international competition,
the introduction of information technology (IT) and
record profits. It also attributes a direct benefit
to the economy from both publicly and privately funded
research.
The volume says that U.S. industry has turned a corner
in the last few years, increasing investments in its
own research laboratories while at the same time accelerating
connections to universities and colleges for fundamental
and applied research.
Patents granted to U.S. inventors and those from a
number of key industrialized nations have increasingly
cited public research at academic and nonprofit institutions,
and government research facilities. And, American
inventors more frequently than ever cite articles
in research journals written overwhelmingly by U.S.
authors.
"These results are striking," said Neal Lane, outgoing
director of the National Science Foundation. "We see
a documented, direct connection between new knowledge
and economic growth. Scientific research, especially
that based at universities, is proving to be a major
contributor to industrial innovation."
Meanwhile, the report cautions that the recent trends
in rising industrial R&D combined with a receding
federal government share of investments is slowly
shifting the direction of the nation's R&D enterprise.
While the health of R&D funding overall remains positive,
"there is cause for concern that short-term R&D may
be displacing the longer-term quest for new knowledge
and breakthrough discoveries," says the book's U.S./international
R&D chapter summary.
Other highlights in S&E Indicators 1998
include:
- Cooperative R&D in the form of new joint research
ventures between firms has been growing, with
the largest increases occurring in 1995 and 1996.
- Growing global cooperation is increasing as industrial
firms are using global research partnerships.
Since 1986, over 4,000 known multi-firm alliances
have been formed to develop and share information
technologies.
- Information technologies have moved economic
markets and business behavior far closer to "real-time"
mode than has ever existed in the past.
NSB is the governing body for the National Science
Foundation, which develops S&E Indicators
for NSB through the Division of Science Resources
Studies. The final report is submitted to the President,
who transmits it to Congress.
The URL for the web version of Science and Engineering
Indicators 1998 is:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/seind98/start.htm
For other press releases about S&E Indicators,
see:
- PR 98-35 Growth of Information
Technology is Changing the Face of the Economy:
S&E Indicators '98 says IT likened
in scope to Industrial Revolution
- PR 98-36 Science
and Engineering Indicators '98 Survey
Shows Americans' Interest in Science Grows: But
actual understanding of scientific terms and concepts
still lags
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