American Competitiveness
The Computing Research Association has a blog called the Computing Research Policy Blog. They recently posted a piece on the issue of Innovation and Competitiveness. It's a very worthwhile read; especially if you're new to the issue.
Just last week, I attended a "convocation" event at the National Academies in Washington, DC. The convocation was held to discuss what steps could be taken to fulfill the recommendations of the Academies' report called "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future". The report is also known, affectionately, as the RAGS report.
Attendees from most states attended, including people from industry, K-12 education, and higher education. The morning was spent hearing mostly from various members of congress and senators; many of whom were there to exhort us to take local action, especially on the education front to ensure that America remains competitive in the increasingly global competitive environment. They also shared the state of the various legislative actions that attempt to fulfill the recommendations cited in the report.
Among the more inspiring speakers was inventor and technology advocate, Dean Kamen. He spoke passionately about a program he started in 1992, called FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Dean recounted the long process of bringing this innovative series of, first high-school level robotics competitions, and more recently middle-school level Lego competitions, to the nation. It was truly an inspiring story. Notably, he left us with the words of William Butler Yeats, who said Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.
The afternoon session of the RAGS convocation included several breakout sessions, with panel presentations and discussions on various topics, ranging from academic-industry partnerships to how to encourage children, parents, policy makers, and the public to be interested in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics).
Just two days before the event, the Senate introduced authorizing (not appropriating) legislation (S.3936) intended to deliver on the RAGS report recommendations.
Interestingly, at the end-of-the-day panel session of the convocation, many of those who commented raised the issue of how the public is not aware of much of this activity or the level of seriousness of the problem. Some suggested that this needs to get the "Oprah" treatment; that there needs to be more popular uptake on the issue. As the room was mostly filled with engineers, scientists, and educators, I don't see this as likely. What I'd really like to see is for the House and Senate to give this the visibility at their level in the form of a separate appropriation bill, rather than the expected single large bill into which all of the coming year's funding is likely to be lumped, particularly given that we're already into the new year and that we're on the verge of an election.