This book is largely based on a 1998 forum where participants from across America discussed ways to improve the utilization of science and technology for economic growth over the next several decades. A steering committee of prominent Americans, co-chaired by SEMATECH Chairman William Spencer and former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, developed consensus recommendations from the forum input. Harnessing Science and Technology for America's Economic Future puts forward long-term goals for the nation and associated action items. It includes background papers and talks from the forum, covers the economics of science and technology-based growth, industry trends, the role of government, education, research universities, and the international context.

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas. This congressionally requested report by a pre-eminent committee makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation's needs, especially in the area of clean, affordable energy: 1) Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education; 2) Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic research; 3) Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad; and 4) Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. Rising Above the Gathering Storm will be of great interest to federal and state government agencies, educators and schools, public decision makers, research sponsors, regulatory analysts, and scholars.

Technological change creates both challenges and opportunities for global economic competitiveness and for the continued enhancement of societal welfare. The challenges and opportunities are complex; neither will be easily met. In this book a distinguished group of government, corporate, and university leaders explores the tangle of policy dilemmas, domestic and international, which confront a technology-intense world. The authors begin by exploring the formulation of technology policy in such areas as national security, defense and cryptography. They examine environmental issues ranging from emissions standards and the future of the electric vehicle to world population projections. They discuss ways of spurring growth in America's research-intensive industries, including a look at integrating the military and civilian technology base. Finally, they address such global issues as trade negotiations, financial services, and recent developments in Russian and China.

In immediate responses to the COVID-19 crisis, science and innovation are playing essential roles in providing a better scientific understanding of the virus, as well as in the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. Both the public and private sectors have poured billions of dollars into these efforts, accompanied by unprecedented levels of global cooperation.

Is the United States in danger of losing its competitive edge in science and technology "S & T"? In response to this concern, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked RAND to convene a meeting, held on November 8, 2006, to review evidence presented by experts from academia, government, and the private sector. The papers presented at the meeting addressed a wide range of issues surrounding the United States' current and future S & T competitiveness, including science policy, the quantitative assessment of S & T capability, globalization, the rise of Asia "particularly China and India", innovation, trade, technology diffusion, the increase in foreign-born S & T students and workers in the United States, new directions in the management and compensation of federal S & T workers, and national security and the defense industry. These papers provide a partial survey of the facts, challenges, and questions posed by the potential erosion of U.S.S & T capability. The importance of S & T to U.S. prosperity and security warrants that policymakers pay careful attention to the various high-level reports issued over the past ve years that warn of pressures on the U.S. lead in S & T. The intellectual point of embarkation for the RAND meeting was the foremost recent such report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, by the National Academy of Sciences.

Since the creation of the National Science foundation in 1950, the federal government has acknowledged and supported the centrality of science and technology to the global competitiveness of the United States. In this important work, historians Alan I Marcus and Amy Sue Bix present illuminating case studies that highlight crucial policy patterns, shifts in emphasis, and debates over future directions of US science and technology policy. One major theme that emerges from these studies is that universities quickly became the main vehicles through which national science and technology policy was developed. As universities became involved in implementing federal policy, their role as educational institutions inevitably changed. Other themes include the effect of gender and minority concerns on policy, as well as the application of social science to selecting research agendas and technology initiatives. Marcus and Bix's revealing analysis corrects the misperception that federal science and technology policy is solely concerned with defense. They demonstrate that biotechnology, robotics, nanotechnology, and information science have also become potent policy choices in recent years, impacting such diverse areas of society as medicine, agriculture, energy use, economic trends, and homeland security. Containing a wealth of information and insightful analysis, this comprehensive chronological study will be especially useful for undergraduate readers, while offering much to graduate students and established scholars.

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is available, US advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. This book makes 4 recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts.