Federal spending cuts
The federal government hasn't been much help in generating new technology sector jobs. A further blow to the nation's competitiveness will result from cutbacks in spending on basic research, mainly by the Pentagon and NASA, as well as reducing university funding for education and research.
The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) says the war in Iraq has pressured military R&D spending, forcing the Pentagon's vaunted Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to shift much of its budget from basic to applied research to support the war effort. Industry investment in R&D is on the decline as well.
Robert Lucky headed telecommunications research at Bell Laboratories before taking a similar job at Telcordia Technologies. He retired from there in 2002 and now heads the National Academy of Science panel studying telecom research in the U.S. He estimates that 85% of the research papers generated in the U.S. come from academia and only 7% from industry. But a strong relationship between academia and government research programs remains, particularly within defense and aerospace.
Tessera Technologies, a specialist in miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry, transferred its chip-scale packaging technology to North Dakota State University. It also has partnered with the university to develop a fully functional microelectronics center. The multiyear program is sponsored by the Defense Microelectronics Activity, an arm of the Pentagon. It aims to develop wireless, low-observable surveillance sensors combined with a high-sensitivity basestation receiver to collect more accurate intelligence information. Tessera has a similar arrangement with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Lost talent
One of the biggest concerns of Alan Hill of Raytheon is that much of the talent in the military and other government programs in the U.S. is about to retire. "There is a significant vacuum of engineers to replace them," Hill says. "The highest risk I see is that when we lose that experience and slowly replace it, we will more likely than not recreate the wheel because the new generation cannot rely on the advice of seasoned veterans."
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sees some hope that Congress will spare broad R&D budget cuts in the next fiscal year. Kei Koizumi, director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at AAAS, believes the U.S. Senate is inclined to push for R&D spending that exceeds the budget proposed by the Administration.
Based on action thus far, the Senate would increase non-defense R&D investment by $2.2 billion, or 3.9%, over 2005 levels. Under the Administration's original budget proposal, issued in February, Koizumi's analysis shows the total federal R&D portfolio for 2006 would rise $733 million to $132.3 billion. That very small 0.6% increase would be far short of the expected 2% rate of inflation. This proposal represents the first decline in the total federal R&D budget since 1996. The Senate and House have proposed boosting NASA's R&D budget more than 7%. However, much of that could be diverted to getting the space-shuttle program back online.
For a list of organization and company URLs see Drill Deeper 11254.
Federal spending cuts
The federal government hasn't been much help in generating new technology sector jobs. A further blow to the nation's competitiveness will result from cutbacks in spending on basic research, mainly by the Pentagon and NASA, as well as reducing university funding for education and research.
The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) says the war in Iraq has pressured military R&D spending, forcing the Pentagon's vaunted Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to shift much of its budget from basic to applied research to support the war effort. Industry investment in R&D is on the decline as well.
Robert Lucky headed telecommunications research at Bell Laboratories before taking a similar job at Telcordia Technologies. He retired from there in 2002 and now heads the National Academy of Science panel studying telecom research in the U.S. He estimates that 85% of the research papers generated in the U.S. come from academia and only 7% from industry. But a strong relationship between academia and government research programs remains, particularly within defense and aerospace.
Tessera Technologies, a specialist in miniaturization technologies for the electronics industry, transferred its chip-scale packaging technology to North Dakota State University. It also has partnered with the university to develop a fully functional microelectronics center. The multiyear program is sponsored by the Defense Microelectronics Activity, an arm of the Pentagon. It aims to develop wireless, low-observable surveillance sensors combined with a high-sensitivity basestation receiver to collect more accurate intelligence information. Tessera has a similar arrangement with the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.
Lost talent
One of the biggest concerns of Alan Hill of Raytheon is that much of the talent in the military and other government programs in the U.S. is about to retire. "There is a significant vacuum of engineers to replace them," Hill says. "The highest risk I see is that when we lose that experience and slowly replace it, we will more likely than not recreate the wheel because the new generation cannot rely on the advice of seasoned veterans."
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) sees some hope that Congress will spare broad R&D budget cuts in the next fiscal year. Kei Koizumi, director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at AAAS, believes the U.S. Senate is inclined to push for R&D spending that exceeds the budget proposed by the Administration.
Based on action thus far, the Senate would increase non-defense R&D investment by $2.2 billion, or 3.9%, over 2005 levels. Under the Administration's original budget proposal, issued in February, Koizumi's analysis shows the total federal R&D portfolio for 2006 would rise $733 million to $132.3 billion. That very small 0.6% increase would be far short of the expected 2% rate of inflation. This proposal represents the first decline in the total federal R&D budget since 1996. The Senate and House have proposed boosting NASA's R&D budget more than 7%. However, much of that could be diverted to getting the space-shuttle program back online.
For a list of organization and company URLs see Drill Deeper 11254.