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22 June 2024

Investing in Science and Technology

Sujai Shivakumar, Charles Wessner, and Thomas Howell

Introduction

The United States is facing a challenge to its global leadership in science and technology that is more serious than any it has confronted since gaining that position after World War II.

Within the relatively short span of two decades, China has emerged as a formidable rival, mounting a concerted drive to dominate key technology-intensive sectors and increasingly matching or exceeding the United States in resources committed. At the same time, the U.S. congress is bogged down in protracted struggles over public spending and the role of government that have engulfed needed investments in science, research, development, and education- the foundation of U.S. economic strength.

The U.S. private sector remains more innovative than its Chinese competitors, but its efforts are focused on developing consumer-oriented products. Meanwhile, the centralized Chinese system concentrates sustained, long-term government support in technology areas that have direct security-related implications- namely, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science, and semiconductors.

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