[2008.06.14] What crisis? 美国创新危机？

Innovation
创新

What crisis?
什么危机？

Jun 12th 2008 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

Worries that America is losing its edge in science and technology are overblown
有人认为美国正在丧失其科技竞争力，这种担心言过其实。

“THE wolves have not encircled us yet,” the Denver Post opined in an article in 2006 entitled “Signs America’s Scientific Edge is Slipping”, “but there’s no denying the sounds of scratching at the door.”
《丹佛邮报》在2006年发表名为”有迹象表明美国的科技竞争力正在下滑”的文章，指出虽然”狼还没有把我们包围”，但是”毫无疑问，抓门声已然入耳”。

This was a pithy summary of a mountain of reports from congressional committees, scientific panels and business groups. But a new report from the RAND Corporation’s National Defence Research Institute, “US Competitiveness in Science and Technology”, suggests that the panic is overblown.
上述评论提炼出了国会委员会、科学小组和商业团体得出的众多报告的实质内容。而兰德公司（RAND）公司国家防卫研究中心的一份题为”美国的科技竞争力”的新报告却指出，这些评论言过其实。

The report demonstrates that America is still the world’s science and technology powerhouse. It accounts for 40% of total world spending on research and development, and produces 63% of the most frequently cited publications. It is home to 30 of the world’s leading 40 universities, and employs 70% of the world’s living Nobel laureates. America produces 38% of patented new technologies in the OECD and employs 37% of the OECD’s researchers.
报告指出，美国仍是全球科技的生力军。美国占有全球科研总支出的40%，产出63%的最频繁被引用的出版物。全球顶尖40所大学中的30所位于美国，70% 在世的诺贝尔奖获得者在美国工作。38%的经合组织的受专利保护的新技术来自美国，37%的经合组织研究人员在美国工作。

There is little evidence that America is resting on its laurels, according to RAND. Developing countries such as China and India may be boosting their science and technology muscle faster than America. But they are starting from a low base. America is outperforming Europe and Japan on many performance measures: in 1993-2003 America’s growth rate in patents averaged 6.6% a year compared with 5.1% for the European Union and 4.1% for Japan.
兰德公司指出，没有证据表明美国正在吃老本。中国、印度这样的发展中国家的科技发展速度比美国快，但他们的起点低。美国的很多指标都优于欧洲和日本： 1993-2003 年期间美国的年均专利增长率是6.6%，而欧盟为5.1%，日本为 4.1%。

One reason for America’s angst was that the growth of federal spending on R&D slowed significantly with the end of the cold war. It only grew by 2.5% a year in 1994-2004 compared with a long-term average of 3.5% since 1953. The trouble with this statistic is that America has lots of sources of R&D spending: federal money accounted for only $86 billion of the $288 billion that it spent on R&D in 2004. Spending on the life sciences is increasing rapidly, a reasonable bet on the future.
让美国人感到担心的一个原因是，冷战结束后，研发的财政支出增长大幅减缓。1994-2004年期间，其年均增长率仅为 2.5% ，而自1953年以来的长期年均增长率为3.5%。不过这个统计有问题，因为美国的研发资金来源很多，比如2004年，研发总支出为$2880 亿，而联邦财政支出不过$860亿。生命科学的研发支出增长迅速，这是对未来合理的投资。

Others worry that non-US citizens now account for 41% of science and engineering PhDs. But this is arguably a sign of America’s continuing world domination: the world’s brightest people are gravitating to the world’s best opportunities. A higher proportion than ever of these paragons want to make their homes in the United States.
还有人担心，现在，41%的科学和工程博士为非美国公民。但这正好证明美国仍是世界的主导：全球最聪明的人都向全球最好的机会靠拢。这些人中想在美国定居的比例为历年之最。

译者：王乙任　http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12108&page=1&extra=page%3D1#pid75561