White House PCAST: Rival Countries Gaining on US Medical Research Spending

The Nation once led the world in investments in research and development (R&D) as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), but more recently, the United States has been investing less in R&D than other leading and emerging nations invest.  Moreover, U.S. industry has been shifting its investments toward applied R&D, narrowing the support for basic and early-stage applied research, which is crucial to transforming innovation.   Without adequate support for such research, the United States risks losing its leadership in invention and discovery—the driving force behind the new industries and jobs that have propelled the U.S. economy over the past century.   President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recently released a report maintaining that if the United States wants to maintain “its lead in technology and innovation, then the federal government must be willing to spend more on basic research and encourage industry investments.”  PCAST said that U.S. investment in research and development as a fraction of gross domestic product “has dropped from first in the world to eighth, and is fourth in the world among large economies.  The report warns that this is a significant threat to long-term research if qualified researchers left for other countries couple with a private sector that is focused primarily on near-term results.  At the report’s announcement, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science an...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs