Have we lost our innovation edge?

Innovation Nation
by John Kao

Let me get this off my chest right now. This is not an uplifting book. The subtitle is "How America is losing its innovative edge, why it matters, and what we can do to get it back."

The author cites three major reasons for our loss of the innovation lead.

1. Education ... Since the reaction to Sputnik in 1957, we have let science and mathematics slide out of our schools. We are now paying the price with not enough scientists, engineers and technicians to fill industry's needs.
2. Infrastructure ... The failure to maintain our infrastructure is borrowing from the future to subsidize today's pleasures. Not that we have bridges falling down in the middle of major metropolitan areas or anything like that. Everything from sewers to mobile phones to the Internet seem to be falling behind someone.
3. Research ... There seems to be a shrinking pie of research dollars, both at the government level and in industry. The focus on stock prices and immediate ROI do not allow the bright people to think up the strange things. Who would have thought that Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation would lead to Blu Ray high definition DVDs? We need more of that kind of research.

That's not to say there is no hope. The rest of the book focuses on glimmers of hope, success stories, and possibilities for gaining the lead. I didn't get to that point before losing interest in the book.

One reason for my distraction is the book that came available at the library tonight. The title is a little too compelling for me to resist:

"Why is there something rather than nothing?"
23 Questions from Great Philosophers

The questions include "What is justice?" "Can we really believe what we see?" and twenty one others.

I am intrigued.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

= = = = Guy