Science and Engineering Indicators 2010 released by US National Science Board (NSB), Jan15.

US lead in Science and engineering could be "cracking-up" according to NSB SEI 2010 Committee Member J-Marie Griffiths.

Intellectual research outputs-No. of Publications
"One key indicator: intellectual research outputs. "While the U.S. continues to lead the world in research publications, China has become the second most prolific contributor." China's rapidly developing science base now produces 8 percent of the world's research publications, up from its just 2 percent of the world's share in 1995, when it ranked 14th." said Griffiths.

The Important of "R&D and R&D Intensity" according to NSB's SEI Committee Chairman Lou Lanzerotti, R&D is a major driver of innovation, which builds on new knowledge and technologies, contributes to national competitiveness and furthers social welfare. R&D expenditures indicate the priority given to advancing science and technology (S&T) relative to other national goals.

In terms of R&D expenditures as a share of economic output, while Japan has surpassed the U.S. for quite some time, South Korea is now in the lead--ahead of the U.S. and Japan.

Over the past decade, R&D intensity--how much of a country's economic activity or gross domestic product is expended on R&D--has grown considerably in Asia, while remaining steady in the U.S. Annual growth of R&D expenditures in the U.S. averaged 5 to 6 percent while in Asia, it has skyrocketed. In some Asian countries, R&D growth rate is two, three, even four, times that of the U.S.

Patent "Stat-us quo" showing crack nucleation and early stages of growth
"Patents are another measure of valuable contributions to knowledge and inventions to societies. Inventors from around the globe seek patent protection in the U.S. U.S. patents awarded to foreign inventors offer a broad indication of the distribution of inventive activity around the world. While inventors in the U.S., the European Union (EU) and Japan produce almost all of these patents, and U.S. patenting by Chinese and Indian inventors. remains modest, the number of patents earned by Asian inventors is on the rise, driven by activity in Taiwan and South Korea," notes Griffiths.

Foresight-Hindsight
Calling SEI a "biennial production and a daily source of pride for the National Science Foundation(NSF) Director Arden L. Bement, Jr., characterized the work as a guide to the future. "It is not just where we stand; it's about where we're heading," he said, quoting 19th century British scientist Lord Kelvin, "'If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.'"

References
1. Original fuller account from ASM_Materials Science community
2.Science and Engineering Indicators 2010, and the Digest

Mea-Culpa I: Royal Soc Publications on Maths,Physical and Engineering Sciences -Links & Search Strategies

Readers must be annoyed to see uncommented features appearing on my blog menu bars! This is an attempt to correct at least one of my misdemeanours the latest one:

I have published "new" RSS feed from The Royal Society, Philosophical Transactions A (Phil Trans R.Soc A) in the RHS-right hand side menu and widgets column. It is taken from the first "all materials" feature (Jan 2006) that I came across, on a recent materials science and engineering search . It lists freely available publications on porous materials, pulled together by a highly reputed team of prefaced by a Team of UK metallurgists, materials scientists and engineers

Preface

I trust you will appreciate this approach and that it may encourage colleagues to make full use of such features as well as the new Google Blogger Tools to facilitate referencing.

I put my first post and introduction to the R. Soc. publications and activities only a few days ago (18 Nov. 2008) at the following link posted on my site, "This-Above-All. :

A MUST READ: Roadmaps in Science and Development -Energy Policy - The National Academies-The Royal Society of London

I for one will be making even more use of this as well as my Institutional Journals (20 peer reviewed online materials for IOM3 members)

eg. cf previous post (18 Nov08)

" It's not HSLA - Bainite" : "Nanostructured Steels"-Green Light by Irvine-based Materials Science Co-MMFX Tech Corp - Corrosion and Toughness Themes

or wider still

Up for review - Top Ten Materials bookmarked to be at the forefront of Technology - Ten Years On (9 Oct. 08)

PNAS Trial cf side bar -scroll down

Enjoy free first class science, technology and engineering, peer reviewed reading.

Some recent materials titles[Link]

Full list of engineering & Physical Science Themes [Links]



Yours in science, technology, engineering & medecine.