Innovate, and grow – Economic Times

By Ashish Arora Et Al

Is American innovation sputtering? The data suggests so: productivity growth in the US, which is powered by innovation, has been decelerating. Total factor productivity grew substantially in the middle of the 20th century, but started slowing in 1970.

Data from the National Science Foundation indicate that US investment in science has steadily increased between 1970 and 2010, as measured by dollars spent (up 5X), number of PhDs trained (2X) and articles published (7X). Why is there little productivity growth? Probably todays science is simply not as groundbreaking as before.

Some dispute this, however, pointing to advances in quantum physics (quantum computing), plasma physics and molecular biology. Another explanation is that todays science is not being translated into applications in other words, something is keeping scientific discoveries from fuelling productive innovation.

Our research finds that the US innovation ecosystem has splintered since the 1970s, with corporate and academic science pulling apart and making application of basic scientific discoveries more difficult. Our analysis also shows that venture capital-backed scientific entrepreneurship has helped to bridge this gap between corporate science and academia but only in a couple of sectors.

From Why the US Innovation Ecosystem is Slowing Down

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Innovate, and grow - Economic Times