Increasing R&D and infrastructure investment is vital to US tech success
As the global economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States and other nations are rapidly moving on to efforts to increase competitiveness. Nowhere will this be more important than in technology. It is encouraging to see President Joe Biden focusing his early economic agenda on taking concrete steps to help the US invest in research and development in key areas of technology.
The greatest threat to US intellectual competitiveness is China, and that is what we should focus on. The Chinese government has set itself long-term goals to increase its self-sufficiency in key technologies and is making substantial public funds available for this. This puts US companies at a severe disadvantage.
In his joint address to Congress in April, President Biden announced that the United States is in competition with China and other countries for victory in the 21st century. But it has also sent some worrying signals that we are already behind. Most importantly, the president said that the US once invested 2% of our gross domestic product in research and development, but that figure is now less than 1%. In order to remain competitive, according to President Biden, we must “develop and master the products and technologies of the future: advanced batteries, biotechnology, computer chips, clean energy”.
When I look at my teenage son and his friends, I see that they are embracing the latest technology with eagerness and anticipation for the next big thing. But for his generation to thrive in a global economy, our government must show the same ambition when it comes to developing and deploying these technologies.
The Biden administration must take a comprehensive approach to US competitiveness and make investment in research, supply chains and education a priority. When we look at the technologies of the future of innovation, we should focus on areas like semiconductor chips and artificial intelligence.
Semiconductor chips are, in the truest sense of the word, the technological basis of the Internet age. They are the chips that help large and small computer systems function in everything from cars to smartphones to missile systems. While the United States has historically been the leader in developing these chips, over the past 30 years we have ceded the expensive manufacturing of these chips to Asia, particularly Taiwan and South Korea.
There was a global shortage of semiconductors over the past year, which has created major turbulence in the automotive industry and is likely to lead to further disruptions in the global economy. China is now working to increase its own semiconductor chip manufacturing capabilities, and the United States must do the same.
Intel recently announced it would invest $ 20 billion to build two chip factories in Arizona. This is a good place to start. Now the federal government should find ways to get other US companies to follow suit.
As with semiconductors, the United States was once the leader in artificial intelligence but has now lost ground to China. So earlier this month the White House launched a new website called AI.gov that will help make research on artificial intelligence more accessible across the country. The site is designed to attract the interest of students and current researchers, making it a tool that can help the United States both now and in the future.
But aside from investing in advanced research, US competitiveness is ultimately determined by the investments we make to ensure Americans everywhere have access to the most basic forms of technology. Here, too, the USA has fallen far behind. The United States currently ranks 20th in the world in terms of proportion of our population with internet access, behind our economic rivals such as the UK, Japan and South Korea.
The most important investment we can make in our future is in the American people. The expansion of high-speed internet is helping our economy today by ensuring that people and businesses have a level playing field. It also helps our economy of tomorrow by giving school-age children the ability to research and access tasks regardless of their location.
America's global leadership in the 20th century was largely due to the cutting edge technology developed by the Americans. My son's generation can build on that success, but only if the United States lays the technological foundations today.
The von Biden government and Congress are wise to invest in the tools that will ensure our young people can stay competitive in the 21st century.
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