Innovation Task Force Releases New Benchmarking Report on American Competitiveness & Innovation

The Task Force on American Innovation recently released the report, American Exceptionalism, American Decline? Research, the Knowledge Economy, and the 21st Century Challenge. The report is the third installment in a series of studies benchmarking American competitiveness in key science and engineering indicators. The TFAI benchmarking report series began with the 2005 report The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing Its Competitive Edge?, which found that, “The United States still leads the world in research and discovery, but our advantage is rapidly eroding, and our global competitors may soon overtake us.”

A November 2006 update of the report expanded these benchmarks and found a continuation of the disturbing trends. TFAI held a review of its most recent report on Jan. 23 on Capitol Hill, in conjunction with Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), co-chairs of the Congressional Research and Development Caucus. Perspectives on U.S. competitiveness in key STEM workforce, energy, and manufacturing indicators were discussed during the event. The full report is available online at: http://innovationtaskforce.org/docs/Benchmarks%20-%202012.pdf.