In the last week, I’ve seen two reports on the same topic -- the diminishing number of science and technology students in the United States -- and one report on the relationship between research investment and measurable returns. The report on R&D spending doesn't address the science student deficit, but I think its ideas are applicable all the same. It's all about managing and measuring investment.
From the National Academies comes Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future. The National Academies’ Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century only focused on two main ideas: creating high-quality jobs for Americans and finding clean, affordable, and reliable energy. To address those challenges, the committee structured its ideas according to four basic recommendations -- actions in K–12 education, research, higher education and economic policy.
According to the report, “some actions involve changes in the law. Others require financial support that would come from reallocation of existing funds or, if necessary, from new funds. Overall, the committee believes that the investments are modest relative to the magnitude of the return the nation can expect in the creation of new high quality jobs and in responding to its energy needs.�
There are 20 recommendations many of which involve scholarships, grants, investment in research and tax incentives. The report also calls for reforms to immigration policy and intellectual property protection.
The report is a pre-publication summary. Nevertheless, it seems to advocate spending money on what seem like pretty good ideas and hoping something works. Perhaps the final release will have more details.
Then there’s this new report from Booz Allen Hamilton: Global Innovation 1000 - Money Isn't Everything, the title of which spells it out. BAH surveyed the top 1000 companies (based on their R&D investments) to determine the correlation between research spending and measurable business growth. The report concludes that “when a company is seeking to grow through innovation, it’s more important to develop a robust business model and good cross-functional capabilities than to boost the R&D budget.� Examples of companies successfully employing this tack are Apple, Toyota, John Deere, Samsung.
From the press release:
"The competitive value of a fast and effective innovation engine has never been greater," said Kevin Dehoff, Booz Allen Vice President, noting the trend toward shorter product life cycles and an ever-faster flow of new offerings. "Yet of all the core functions of most companies, innovation may be managed with the least rigor. The key is to identify the priority areas where process improvements will have the greatest impact."
In spite of the billions of dollars spent to encourage students and graduates to pursue studies in STEM fields or improve STEM educational programs, the percentage of United States students earning bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields has been relatively constant—about a third of bachelor’s degrees—since 1977.
GAO says that before we start trying other ideas to boost the number of STEM students, we need to know “the extent to which existing STEM education programs are appropriately targeted and making the best use of available federal resources.�
Every journey begins with a single step.
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