The USA was 9th last year. Now, the USA has fallen to 11th in the annual ranking of innovation by country. Like last year, the continued slide (we were #1 in 2013) is due mostly to lack of investment in hard science, manufacturing, and technology education.
See the Bloomberg Innovation Index report for 2020 here. It’s a truly rich report and it gives a great picture of which countries are primed, and are doing, great things. Is it a perfect measure? No. But it’s a hell of an indicator.
The USA still has significant strengths, but anybody who thinks the USA isn’t slipping isn’t paying attention. China, of course, is moving up. Germany and South Korea, still kicking ass. Switzerland holding steady in a top slot. Singapore is now a top player on the world stage. Austria comes in at #10.
What should we do? I’ve written about this before, but briefly, we, the USA, needs to invest in education, specifically STEM education.
The USA Should Take Action Now, and…
Train and graduate more skilled scientists, engineers, and manufacturers
Keep more of the graduating top STEM students — that we train — from returning home to other countries
Put more emphasis on science and math in elementary and secondary education
Reduce the barriers, and encourage more STEM higher education for our best and brightest.
Provide more scholarships and work-study programs (see below)
The American Science Corp would have to be a young woman’s opportunity as well!
Solution: Build Back Better by Work-Study-National Service Agreement — American Science Corp
The current desire to finally do something about infrastructure in the USA might be a way to kill two birds with one stone. Why not create the American Science Corp, a modern day Civilian Conservation Corp, comprised of STEM students? In exchange for a scholarship they would agree to work on projects while they study, and, three years of work post graduation. Learn, then apply advanced skills in a real world infrastructure program, as they attend school. They graduate, do their service, and emerge debt free, with skills, and ready to work in the private sector. Innovating.
Pack a Lunch Mail-in voting is already problematic. Like many Americans I’m appalled at the use of the Post Office to suppress votes. If you don’t agree this is happening, you can skip the rest of what I say here. In my view, the Post Office and Mail-in voting is already compromised, with some exceptions. For those of you who read my blog for innovation, this blog is not about that, I’ll return soon with more writing on creativity and innovation. But the stability of our elections and our government does impact innovation in the long run, and maybe the short run. Too Late To Fix This It would be great if this problem of mail-in voting could be fixed
A Culture of Incivility Harms USA Innovation Five Ways Incivility “Decapitates” Innovation The recent flap around Kathy Griffin’s posting a picture of a fake severed head, of our President, was a sad attempt at humor, but incredibly successful at provocation. It has brought up the discussion, once again, of the civility of our discourse in America. I think Tiffany Quay Tyson does a nice job of summing up how many people are reacting to the Griffin incident, and the subsequent howls of reaction. No matter your political persuasion, civil discourse, and it’s close cousins, politeness, gentility, tolerance, compassion, and good manners have slipped far from where we once were. Those who keep track of civility are in agreement about the
Ben Tarnoff’s recent article for the Guardian hits hard. America has become so anti-innovation – it’s economic suicide This article is worth a careful reading. If you care about American Innovation, or UK Innovation for that matter, you’d better realize something; our governments are currently committing economic suicide. They are doing this by not investing in deep theoretical science and in infrastructure. Small “i” innovation is something we do well in the USA, but we can’t live on that kind of innovation forever. We need to create new markets and build new jobs based on new science and technology, new materials, and new infrastructure. This means countries like China, who are investing, are paving the way for their future success.
Why a Hostile Immigration Policy is Stupid Who remembers George Gilder? He’s a relevant person to recall at this moment in time. George Gilder said in 1995: “Without immigration over the last 50 years, I would estimate that U.S. real living standards would be at least 40% lower.” He could be wrong with that figure. It might be more than 40%. He said that in 1995. Readers who would prefer I stay out of political posts please understand this is a post about Innovation. I’m not going to comment on the moral, legal, or overtly political aspects of the new immigration policy. I will say that the new policy is hostile, at the very least in terms of how it’s
Stealing Smart and Stealing Stupid Melania Trump’s speech last evening at the GOP convention, and today’s subsequent media uproar and fiasco, is symbolic of several things in my view. Summarizing my themes here: Competence, Theft, and Ideas (or lack of them). I’ll take flack for writing this post, but understand, this is not about politics. It involves politics — but my comments have more to do with creativity and innovation. As most of you know, my interests are in those areas, so, I’m looking at recent events with that lens. Not as a lefty, not as a righty. I’m looking at this with the green tinted shades of the artist and the black and white lens of a professional innovator.
Pure Michigan is a Damaged Brand As a Michigan resident I’ve followed the developments in Flint with a mixture of horror, sadness, outrage, and confusion. This post is not about political blame. Having said that, I don’t deny the political element to the problem; it’s a sad tale of bad decisions on top of bad decisions, and some of those made for purely political reasons. Fact seeking people on both sides of the aisle need to take a very close look at what’s happened. The focus of this post is about the damage that has been done to the state of Michigan’s brand, Pure Michigan. This is not being talked about, but it’s as damaging in the long run as
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Call me king of the obvious but I’d like to remind folks about something related to leadership, innovation, and the upcoming election. Domain Knowledge Matters I’m not taking political sides here but I’m going to make a point about Donald Trump’s candidacy. Let’s face it he has captured the attention of a large group of people. This is factual — the polls have him leading the GOP field. My opinion on why he’s doing so well is this: Trump says things that are bold, straightforward, non-PC and they echo the sentiments of many Americans. People love this approach because it’s just not what they’re used to hearing from a politician. I’ll put aside the notions and accusations that he’s racist,
