Innovators bemoan near-sighted R&D

Technology researchers and scientists gathered in New York City last week to honor two colleagues: Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, and Claude Berrou [at right], co-inventor of turbo codes. Berrou and several of the attendees at the Marconi Society-sponsored symposium added their voices to the growing concern that the United States is falling behind the rest of the world in technological innovation because fewer dollars are being allocated to long-term research. "I think we are in trouble," said Leonard Kleinrock [Video], professor of computer science at UCLA and creator of the basic principle of packet switching.

Federico Faggin [Video], who pioneered the first silicon gate integrated circuits, bemoaned the emphasis on short-term goals.

Bell Labs inventor Robert Lucky [Video] noted that the telecom industry can't afford to fund research the way it did pre-1984: "The government isn't stepping up to the plate. We're eating our seed corn."

For details, see News.com's  report, Research money crunch in the U.S.