Breakthrough: A National Innovation Deficit

Add another voice to the cacophony of warnings about our national innovation deficit. The Sunday Times profiled Judy Estrin, a Silicon Valley veteran who has spent her entire career working in technology and innovation. Estrin is worried about the country's future competitiveness in technology:

She compared the situation to a tree that appears to be growing well, but whose roots are rotting underground.
"Too much of it is short-term, incremental innovation, and the roots of the tree aren't happy," she said.

As a grad student, Estrin contributed to some of the early networking protocol research that led to the modern-day Internet, so she knows firsthand the importance of government-financed, long-term research and development. Her new book, "Closing the Innovation Gap," identifies the root causes of our slipping grip on the innovation edge.

Her findings are much in line with Breakthrough's: we're in a rut because of neglecting education and failing to provide sufficient funding for research. The lack of government support is creating a gap too big for private industry to fill on its own.

Neglecting Education at all Levels

93 percent of students in grades five through eight learn science from teachers who do not hold degrees or certifications in the topics.
Chinese and Indian children are required to take more science courses than students in the United States.
Of college graduates, 30 percent to 45 percent in India and China have engineering degrees, compared with 5 percent in the United States.
60 percent of engineering doctorates from American universities are granted to foreign nationals, but they are no longer staying here to work.

Lax on Research Funding

Federal financing of research in the physical sciences was 45 percent less in 2004 than in 1976

Insufficient Government Support Creates an Innovation Gap

When research does produce new technologies, entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists who back them have been too cautious to make big bets -- especially after the costly failures of the dot-com bust.
If start-up companies do find financing, new regulations make it hard for them to grow, and the focus of investors on short-term performance discourages companies from taking risks.
Despite the recent surge in financing for alternative energy companies, Estrin is concerned that investors will not have the patience to build these companies.
Venture financing and patent applications are falling in Europe and the United States and rising in China and India.

Breakthrough Generation co-directors Teryn Norris and Jesse Jenkins published an op-ed last month addressing these concerns. For more on our policy prescription, see "An Energy Plan We Can Believe In".

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