AeA On Target Mostly

AeA (American Electronics Association) recent report We Are Still Losing the Competitive Advantage: Now Is the Time to Act, acts as both a report card on national political leaders inaction and a refreshed call for action on its report of two years ago, Losing the Competitive Advantage?: The Challenge for Science and Technology in the United States.

While not making its own recommendations, it does choose to reference the findings and recommendations from the National Academies' Rising Above the Gathering Storm, available for purchase or readable online. Taken from that cited resource, the AeA specifies targeted legislation it will support, in particular.

Most of the information and recommendations are familiar ground to the tech industry, although the AeA's emphasis (bias?) on "hard" technology (engineering, physical sciences, math and computer science) becomes debatable when it recommends R&D preferences over life sciences. Particularly incitable is its contention that R&D in "physical health ... is commendable ... (but) technology R&D (as defined) remains vital to the economic health (emphasis retained) of the nation." This point deserves the attention of the biotech industry.