Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

By Larry Dignan | March 28, 2011, 1:00am PDT

At Economist confab in Berkeley, Calif., U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra contextualizes President Obama’s remarks that America needs to “out-innovate” countries like India and China to remain competitive. Chopra says studies show the U.S. is falling behind in innovation and R&D and Americans should focus on inventing new products and technologies for export.

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U.S., China, India, America, Chopra, Research & Development, Leadership, Strategy, Business Operations, Management, Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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It's not all about innovation

HypnoToad72 27th Jan

The value OF work is the often non-discussed issue in terms of what defines a middle class...

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

Bradish@... 28th Mar 2011

Chances are that as history has shown, nations peak and fall in technology, military strength, finance and so on. Britain is a very good example when compared to the US, particulary over the last 150 years. We can expect the same of US compared to the emerging China and India. The US is 'comfortable' and there is no need to stretch to reach the next level...they are already there. China and India must stretch their innovative capabilities to reach their next level and thus I see little chance of the US outpacing China and India (and maybe even Brazil)

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

gundam_0083 28th Mar 2011

@Bradish@...
u r absolutely right, bt some other emerging nations will outpace them one day, history will repeat itself.

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

Return_of_the_jedi Updated - 28th Mar 2011

Microsoft is in the way of that happening. If you are not careful they'll sue you for your thoughts. You have been warned.

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Well said!

ScorpioBlue 28th Mar 2011

Watch then export everything (except their marketing department, which is an epic fail in & of itself) to China and India. Programmers living in dirt huts come cheap.

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Message has been deleted.

gundam_0083 Updated - 7th Apr 2011

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

ramnet@... 28th Mar 2011

From what I saw of the USA in 1999 it needs to stop spending money on arms and the military and do a fair bit more on the home front in terms of creating jobs and infrastructure . Some of the cities I visited which included many parts of L.A , Memphis and Nashville looked old , tired and run down compared to what I was used to in Australia. I was staggered at how the average 'in the street' American was so un-worldly as to not have a single 'clue' as to what was going on in the next neighbourhood let alone other countries around the world . One of the first inventions you could start with is the Aussie invention called a 'Milk Bar' . Its where you can get fresh bread (home baked if you are lucky) filled with ham , tomato and lettuce (no mayo by the way) and tea or coffee in lieu of Burger King , McDonalds or Wendy's at reasonable prices. Try it America you will lose weight and gain intelligence you never thought was possible. Basically what I am saying is 'innovation' is everywhere but Americans have this one skill of bloating crap and marketing it in a way that tries to make it look fantastic when it is not! Get some real creative juices going and invent something worthwhile .. like the electric or hydrogen fuel car maybe or a way to obtain cheap renewable electricity , ways of cheaply storing water etc and tax breaks for industries who wish to relocate back to the USA would be helpful starters.

Ken

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Fair Criticism

sboverie 28th Mar 2011

@ramnet@...
You definitely got the symptoms of the current semi isolationism. There were small diners that served food like your Milk Bars; but they are competing with well organized and better advertisment by fast food franchises.

America used to be known for "Yankee ingenuity" as well as the the land of opportunity. I think that there is hope that there is a robust "Do-It-Yourself" movement that is happening at the grass roots. An example is that 3D printers (prints plastic to create a 3D model, prototype and even usable parts) are available for a few thousand dollars; or a kit to build a small, home version for a few hundred dollars. These are the things that put people in position to create and innovate for less money on development costs.

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RE: needs to stop spending money on arms and the military

fatman65535 28th Mar 2011

@ramnet@...

Agreed, but, it will never happen .

The reason why is because defense contractors have distributed the jobs created by military spending all over the USA. No politician in his right mind, is going to vote for defense cuts that cause job losses in his (or her) Congressional district.

Its the old adage: Money Talks, Bull$#!t Walks!!! and MI (military-industrial) complex money does a lot of talking.

Eisenhower warned us back in the 1950's.

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

ian.aldrighetti 28th Mar 2011

I could be wrong (so please correct me), but we are already "out-innovating" them... A lot of innovations happen in the US, the problem is they then have those innovations manufactured elsewhere.

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Exactly!

sissy sue 28th Mar 2011

@ian.aldrighetti
Isn't this called "globalization"? It's the term "leaders" like Obama use to justify our declining standard of living. Our "leaders" in government and business don't care, because they are the comfortable ruling class, whereas we are just the drones. They would sell us out in a minute to maintain the status quo (which is their stranglehold on wealth, power, and influence), and they are doing just that this very minute.

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

ian.aldrighetti 28th Mar 2011

@sissy sue Yup, and maybe lowering taxes on companies (30%! ridiculous!) would make them think about coming back, at least to some extent. Currently businesses do all kinds of funky things to get around it...

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Bring on The Giant Hand

Robert Hahn 28th Mar 2011

What we need is a Giant Hand From The Sky -- no wait, even better let's make it a Giant Fist -- that will smash our oppressors and rub them into the ground.

That will then cut out the middleman, and we can deal with The Giant Fist ourselves.

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Globalization

sboverie 28th Mar 2011

@sissy sue
When businesses have entire world to find resources and workers then the challenge is make the US a place where business can grow and be profitable.

The tax breaks given to companies doesn't work if all things are equal and the incentives to move production to China or India are still better than the tax breaks to stay in the US. There are other things that bring a business to a particular location; things like the local sales, cost of doing business (taxes, office and factory spaces) as well as the stature of location.

Silicone Valley was seen as the place to be if you want to be in the high tech industry. This stature brought lots of businesses and people to an expensive area for a short time.

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

HypnoToad72 21st Apr 2011

@sissy sue - agreed 100%!

@ian.aldrighetti - let's see Apple lower its per-sale fee on its developers - if it can be done for government it can be done for corporation. (It's the identical concept; those doing the real work take a hit when bureaucrats take a cut for themselves...) And corporations have been getting cuts for YEARS. On top of corporate welfare. Do you really believe giving them a free ride (on top of the banks getting 0% loans and then the banks giving us loans at 25%) will reverse ANYTHING? Um, *no*...

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

HypnoToad72 21st Apr 2011

@sissy sue - agreed 100%!

@ian.aldrighetti - let's see Apple lower its per-sale fee on its developers, no more 30% for them since the developers find it ridiculous as well, especially for the money most workers get in return. Even then, higher quality games (e.g. "Cut the Rope") aren't taking in as much much as one noteworthy game that's legitimately overhyped... Anyway, if it can be done for government it can be done for corporation. (It's the identical concept; those doing the real work take a hit when bureaucrats take a cut for themselves...) And corporations have been getting cuts for YEARS. On top of corporate welfare. Do you really believe giving them a free ride (on top of the banks getting 0% loans and then the banks giving us loans at 25%) will reverse ANYTHING? Um, *no*...

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

HypnoToad72 21st Apr 2011

sboverie@... speaking off offshoring to India, keep in mind the following article is what is happening.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/13/general-motors-ceo-urged-to-address-indian-workers-complaints/

If you want to work in those conditions, fine. Let's build up fair living conditions and stop exploiting. Of course, we can't meddle - India's own government has to do its part as well. Our government can only do so much and it's weird that people would rather ask us to do things than their own government:

http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/image/2009/7/children-carter-road-mumbai-hillary-green-idol.jpg

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Read the news articles on GE paying ZERO taxes.

terry flores 28th Mar 2011

@ian.aldrighetti

Innovations at places like IBM, GE, and HP does the US absolutely no good, because these are the first companies to ship the ideas over to China, just like Apple did. These are not "American" companies, they are multi-nationals who care little or nothing for American citizens other than as a diminishing customer base.

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You forgot MS

ScorpioBlue 28th Mar 2011

They should be included as well, give their H1B track record.

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RE: Does America need to 'out-innovate' China and India?

riverforestnate@... Updated - 29th Mar 2011

Before considering new innovation, how about figuring out how to protect the west's current inovations, its intellectual property in asia. I've lived in Asia for 8 years and the amount of intellectual property theft is staggering: pirated software used widely in universities and in people's homes, etc., American movies sold cheaply on the street and online, the list is endless. No wonder there is a trade deficit. And when not out-and-out pirating a product, companies in asia often crowd in a me too stampede into a new market segment. One wonders what the trade deficit would look like if the incredibly widespread piracy was brought under control.

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Nothing new.

jessepollard 21st Apr 2011

Before the US became known as a "industrial nation", the US stole as much as possible from Europe. Books, machines, designs...

This was how the US learned how to build and to manufacture.

Now it is the Asians turn.

They will learn/have learned.

The US has become overprotectionist in so called "intellectual property" that it is going to become a second or third world country in as little as 10 years.