Recent Research and Useful Stats: NSF Releases Science & Engineering Indicators 2008

On Tuesday, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released Science & Engineering Indicators 2008, its comprehensive biennial analysis of the U.S. and international science and technology landscape. This version provides thorough details about the features of a rapidly-changing global economy, as countries continue to make investments in their knowledge-based capacity and industries.

 

The report provides some of the most current and succinct illustrations of how, over a relatively short period of time, China and other Asian countries have quickly ascended in economic size and international science and technology prominence. The U.S., due to its large and diversified science and technology infrastructure and industry, is holding its own when compared to the rest of the world. Japan and the E.U., however, are beginning to slip in a variety of comparative metrics. As the entire world is realizing the benefits of knowledge-intensive economies, the bar is continually rising as countries push to improve education, high-tech industrial development, and R&D advancement, the report points out.

 

An example of this shift can be found in high-technology manufacturing from 1985 to 2005. In this period, the U.S. share of the world’s total of high-tech manufacturing grew to 35 percent, while the E.U and Japan shares decreased from 25 percent to 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively. China however, experienced a rise from 2 percent to 16 percent over the same period.

 

For the world as a whole, 12 percent of total manufacturing output in 1985 could be considered high-tech, which grew to 19 percent in 2005. In those 20 years, the portion of high-tech manufacturing in the U.S. increased from about 14 percent to 24 percent of total manufacturing. Experiencing an even larger jump, China’s proportion of high-tech manufacturing swelled from 8 percent of the country’s total manufacturing to almost 28 percent in the same period.

 

The U.S. continued to make sustained increases in its per capita GDP and productivity per employee year after year, keeping the U.S. well ahead of many other countries. In fact, most world regions saw the difference in their productivity compared to the U.S. continually widen over the past 20 years.

 

Intellectual property protection, as measured by patents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), also displayed a global shift. The number of USPTO patents from the U.S. had tripled from 1985 to 2005. However, the report reminds readers that the U.S. share has hovered consistently around 53 percent. In that same time frame, the E.U.’s share decreased from 21 percent to 13 percent of total patents, and Asia’s share (which includes Japan, Korea, and China, among others) grew from 19 percent to 29 percent.

 

U.S. R&D expenditures grew to $325 billion in 2005, as Japan’s increased to $131 billion, and China inched even closer, passing the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2005.

 

The 2008 Indicators report suggests industrial R&D spending as a percentage of U.S. total R&D spending is beginning to rebound from its peak of 70 percent in 2000, as 2004 levels were 64 percent, rising to 66 percent in 2006. Also in 2006, student visas issued were higher than pre-Sept. 11 numbers. Visas dropped 25 percent immediately after the 2001 attacks.

 

The 558-page volume I of the report is filled with comparative values and charts on a wide range of subjects from international degree attainment to foreign-born science and engineering workforce trends. Of special interest to SSTI state organizations may be the 47 indicators that compare the states in Chapter Eight, in subject areas such as math and science aptitudes at various grade levels; degree attainment per capita; SBIR, R&D and venture capital funding as a share of the state’s GDP; and, public school expenditures.

 

Volume II of the report, which contains 576 pages of appendix tables, is also available for download. Both volumes of Science & Engineering Indicators 2008, plus instructions on how to obtain a copy of the report on CD can be found at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/