While the rest of the world is investing heavily in innovation, the U.S. is lagging behind. This sentiment is behind President Bush's announcement of an American Competitiveness Initiative in his State of the Union address. The president is proposing to spend $136 billion over the next 10 years with funding extended toward government-sponsored research in the physical sciences. The initiative also calls for extending R&D tax breaks to private sector manufacturers to scale this initiative beyond the public domain.
According to AMR Research analyst Michael Burkett, U.S. manufacturers have not always made efficient use of their R&D dollars. He cites AMR Research studies which report only 5% of manufacturers claim improving innovation influences technology investment, yet 24% say lean manufacturing is a major influence. Thirty one percent of executives surveyed feel the new product development and launch process is not in control.
"If you look across industries from life sciences to automotive, they remain straddled with fragmented IT environments that prevent them from capitalizing globally on their R&D.
"Manufacturers must streamline the innovation engine with a greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing environment. They must ensure great research converts to competitive products by responding quickly to evolving market needs and do more than increase R&D spending," says Burkett.
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