WASHINGTON, DC – A new report suggests America is at risk of losing its competitive edge as a global technology leader, as China and other countries aim to surge ahead.

Second Place America: Increasing Challenges to US Scientific Leadership, released by the Task Force on American Innovation (TFAI), covers science and technology benchmarks in which America is now losing ground. The report calls for greater US government investment in science and technology.

America’s public-sector R&D investment as a share of GDP has dropped more than 15% since 1995, according to the report’s findings. In addition, the US global share of research publications decreased from 27% in 2003 to 18% in 2016, while China’s share grew to 19% from 7%.

The US boasts fewer bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering awarded since 2000, while these same degrees in China have increased more than 360%. In 2015, the number of researchers in China was more than 1.6 million, compared to 1.3 million in the US. In 2005, the US had nearly half of the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers. Now it has less than a quarter.

The Semiconductor Industry Association suggests tripling federal investments in research targeted at semiconductors to $5 billion annually, while doubling federal funding for semiconductor-related research in materials science, computer science, engineering, and applied mathematics to $40 billion each year.

SIA also urges an increase in green cards for STEM graduates, along with a 50% increase in federal funding for STEM education to more than $1.5 billion annually, with the goal of doubling the number of US STEM graduates by 2029.

Free trade agreements like the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement should be approved, SIA says, removing market barriers, protecting IP, and enabling fair competition. Law enforcement and intelligence agency resources should also be increased to protect semiconductor IP.

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