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Abstract
The US has been a world leader in innovation and knowledge activities since World War II. Because the US has become accustomed to a position of leadership, there is widespread insecurity—maybe even paranoia—regarding threats to its dominance in technology, beginning with Sputnik in 1956. This paper provides some details of US decline relative, in particular, to European countries over the past two decades, when both strengths and the weaknesses are evident in US innovation and technology. The US has moved from a position of dominance to a position of first among equals, in line with a more widely distributed pattern of science and technological capabilities.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Conference “Mind the GaP”, workshop 7— Mind the Knowledge and Innovation GaP, in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, June 2004. The author appreciates the encouragement of Frans Boekema and Roel Rutten to pursue the research in this paper as well as their helpful comments on an earlier draft.