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Tech challengers closing in India, China threaten state’s lead
Jay Fitzgerald By Jay Fitzgerald
Friday, February 1, 2008

Boston Herald

Massachusetts’ impressive position as a world leader in science and technology research is at risk from growing economic powers such as China and India, according to a report to be released today.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, via its John Adams Innovation Institute, says in its report that the state is an envied leader in a number of technology and scientific fields, based on per capita spending on research, the number of patents issued and other measurements.

The state invests about 5 percent of its gross state product into research and development, the best performance of any region in the world, according to the report.

But countries such as China and India are pushing hard to land more research dollars from private companies and elsewhere. Both nations are churning out scientists and engineers at a rapid pace, positioning them as major competitors for Massachusetts companies and nonprofit institutes heavily involved in the life-sciences and high-technology fields, the report said.

“It’s plainly and clearly a serious threat,” said Michael Tavilla, program manager for research and analysis at the John Adams Innovation Institute.

He said R&D spending in some Asian countries has been increasing at a 20 percent to 25 percent clip every year over the past five years.

The new report isn’t the first to sound the alarm of increased challenges facing Massachusetts’ position as a technology and scientific leader.

Waltham-based Raytheon Co. has aggressively promoted education programs designed to produce more engineers in the U.S., citing a shortage of engineers here.