Technology Development in the 1990s: Will Government Policies Help or Hinder?
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Technology Development in the 1990s: Will Government Policies Help or Hinder? RobertM.White The folloiuing is the text of Robert M. White's address at the second annual meeting held by the Council on Superconductivity forAmerican Competitiveness on September 14, 1990 in Washington, DC. See "From Washington" in this issue for a report on the CSAC meeting. Technology policy has never been more important because foreign compétition and accelerated technological change are driving a dramatic transformation of the world's économie order. The compétitive and technological arena of the next century will bear little resemblance to the one in which the United States has been the world's undisputed leader. Today, we face unprecedented challenges in shaping our commercial System for an environment in which new technology, foreign compétition, and rapidly changing global markets will transform every product, service, and job in the United States. Ironically, over the past three décades, the United States began to lose its leading compétitive position in many hightechnology industries at the very pinnacle of its technological dominance. We still lead the world in generating new knowledge and creating new technology. But that alone gives us an insufficient compétitive edge. We ail know that the statistics show the United States losing market share in virtually every industry segment. They reflect U.S. weakness in converting new technology into world class products, and they also show the rapidly growing strength of our advanced industrial competitors. The président is keenly aware of the formidable challenges before the nation and that America's technological leadership and économie future are at stake. However, the président believes that government cannot create compétitive industries. The government's job is to strengthen the
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nation's technology infrastructure and improve the climate for investment and innovation. Industry must do the rest. The Council on Superconductivity asked that I discuss technology development in the 1990s and whether government policies will help or hinder. Well, that certainly dépends on the kind of policies. There is growing récognition that many of our traditional business and technology policies and practices aren't as effective as they once were. They were designed to optimize our performance in an environment in which technology advanced slowly, foreign compétition was weak or nonexistent, markets were domestic, consumer desires stable, the workplace demanded few highly skilled people, and labor was plentiful. None of thèse conditions exist today. Therefore, I do not believe that fine-tuning yesterday's policies and practices will significantly improve our compétitive lot. When unprecedented change is afoot, outeomes uncertain, and the économie stakes high, spirited debate and différences of opinion are to be expected. However, if business and government do not find new ways to navigate the "seachange" in which we find ourselves, it's going to be continued rough sailin
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