Don't Feel To Good About U.S. Science

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Source: "Sample table and charts,"Main Science and Technology Indicators (MSTI): 2008/2 edition, OECD.

The newest report from the OECD on S&T indicators shows that the United States is still well in advance of the European Union in Global Expenditures on Research and Development (GERD), but that U.S. R&D has remained at about the same level for years, only now recovering from the decrease seen during the early years of the Bush administration. Moreover, civil R&D being a smaller fraction of the total in the United States than abroad, the advantage in industrial innovation is less than the GERD would suggest. Note too how Japan is increasing its efforts in research and development. The data does not show the trends in China and India, which have been assuming much greater significance in world science and technology.