Post by rob on Dec 18, 2009 23:26:06 GMT -5
Welcome.
The map is based on patent analysis. I was challenging the statement that the U.S. innovates better or faster because of inherent cultural limitations within other countries.
Perpetual motion machines. ;D It probably has to do with weapons, aerospace, and forms of intellectual property not related to technology.
Here is another patent analysis map. This one charts trajectory (I'm not seeing Moscow
). Anywho, got to love these bubble maps. Ever since they were introduced at TED...
Some Asian cities are off the chart (not visible on chart) because of their growth (20%). And some of the big unnamed bubbles belong to Japan and Korea.
I'm a little surprised that Russia is still so much at the frontier for innovation in weapons and aerospace, but it looks like they sell more weapons than the UK, France and China combined, so I guess they are probably still competing on price and quality. I suppose it's still their comparative advantage industry for export after oil. I wonder whether arms innovation should count as progress or a good thing, or whether Adorno was right that there is “no universal history leads from savagery to humanitarianism, but there is one leading from the slingshot to the megaton bomb.”
I buy the second graph more, but then I agree with you completely about growth rates (vs. levels). I'm not sure whether he US will still have a lead by the end of this century...
You skipped a step. How is having a few universities being ranked by Western papers proof of better innovation overall? Even with that, how can that these universities with their mix of foreign students and faculty be an accurate representation of the ground on which they sit. There is innovation in the private sector and on the local level which contributes to overall atmosphere.
Trying to track and equate universities with innovation is the same mindset as tracking superstars. You can have the best players and the best coaches yet still lose at the Olympics--as the U.S. often does.
It's like the U.S. health care system. They can offer you the best services (for a price), but so many U.S. citizens lack access to the basic services that it puts the U.S. in an embarrassing position in the developed world. The U.S. is in a similar position with its education system.
So to recap:
- Rankings do not equal innovation
- A few good innovators cannot innovate for everybody
- There were some other good points that I forgot about/ haven't innovated yet...
Universities produce the basic research that private enterprise needs to truly innovate. Without university research, R and D for private enterprise would be too expensive, and prevent many companies form even existing.
Here's a list of the top pharmaceutical companies in the world
pharmexec.findpharma.com/pharmexec/data/articlestandard/pharmexec/272006/354138/article.pdf
6 out of the top 10 are located in the United States with the rest located in Europe.
Top 100 Software companies
www.softwaretop100.org/software-top-100/global-software-top-100-edition-2009again with most of the top 10 located in the US
Of course these are just an example of two sectors, but they are very important ones.
