Where Have All the Patents Gone?

By Jonathan Gourlay

President Bush signed Executive Order 13226 way back on September 30, 2001, to form the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). You’ve got to wonder why.

  PCAST, a group of intelligent and apparently honest individuals who hold top spots in industry, education, and research organizations were charged with offering their expert advice to the president. Since 2002, the group has issued 15 reports. One of the big ones, “Assessing the U.S. R&D Investment,” points to a “need to improve funding levels for physical sciences and engineering.” Among a lot of numbers and damning evidence of deficient federal investment, the report makes three important recommendations. It says the U.S. should increase federal funding for R&D, develop a major program of fellowships to attract and support the advanced graduate studies of U.S. citizens in the fields of science and engineering, and adopt ongoing action to improve research investments to meet national needs.

  The president must not be aware of the report or its recommendations.

  Though he has called energy research a “high-priority national need,” the 2005 federal budget cut energy R&D by 11 percent from the year before. Today, when adjusted for inflation, we invest less than half the money we spent on such research 25 years ago. In fact, according to the American Association of the Advancement of Science, R&D dollars will fall 18 percent by next year.

  In the last fiscal year, the Energy Department had planned to spend $159 million on solar research and development. Nearly double that,  $303 million, on nuclear energy research and development, and nearly triple,  $427 million, on coal, as well as $167 million on other fossil fuel research and development. Using the most conservative recent numbers available, we spend that combined amount every five days in Iraq.

  What does this mean? Among other things, it means we are falling behind the rest of the world, fast. It also means that no one in the administration has a clue as to the meaning of the word “renewable.”

  The emerging economies of China,  South Korea, and Taiwan increased their R&D investments by about 140 percent from 1995 through 2001. Collectively, these three countries are on track to catch up to the U.S. R&D investment and might well have passed it by now. U.S. Patent applications from the Asian countries of China,  India, Singapore, SouthKorea, and Taiwan grew by 759 percent from 1989 to 2001. In that same time frame, ours simply doubled.

  It is said the Asian countries started at a much lower threshold, and while that’s an arguable point, it doesn’t completely excuse our current government’s lack of vision.

  According to PCAST, federal funding of basic research in engineering and physical sciences has experienced little to no growth over the last 30 years. In fact, as a percentage of GDP, funding for such research has been in a 30-year decline. The president’s advisors have also said that because of its overwhelming population, China’s rise as a high-tech manufacturer has caused increasing concerns. Yet its emerging market in high-tech is likely to continue indefinitely.

  The good news is that in the face of an anemic and misguided administration, the private sector is doing its best to pick up the slack. Corporate investments in R&D now provide more than 68 percent of all domestic research money. But such private funding is reliant upon business patterns, tending to focus on short-term results.

  This is a big problem. If federal funding was where it should be, U.S. industry would be better off. We’d likely maintain our lead in sciences and technology, and the American economy would have a better chance of realizing its former glory.

  We can no longer afford to wait for change. It’s time to create it ourselves.

  Jonathan Gourlay is features editor of DE.