William T. Archey, President and CEO, AeA

Brian Friel’s article covering the December 7th National Summit on Competitiveness ["The Science Scare," 1/14/06, p-36] asserted that the summit "had a preordained message grounded in a pair of foregone conclusions: America’s economy faces a grave threat from overseas, and the federal government needs to spend billions of dollars to counter the threat."

Mr. Friel is both right and wrong. True, the business and academic leaders at this summit did not come to discuss whether we had a problem. They already knew that U.S. competitiveness was at risk. They live this reality everyday and have been sounding the alarm for some time.

Yet, much of the general public and even many policymakers don’t fully understand the magnitude of change happening around the world.

Mr. Friel points to critics who stated "they’ve heard all this before" with Germany and Japan. They believe our flexible, resilient economy will once again overcome the current threat. After all, the United States still boasts the world’s largest economy and leads in science and technology by many indicators.

But this complacency fails to recognize the fundamental difference this time around. It is not one country nipping at our heels; a host of new competitors have emerged in the global economy. They are borrowing from our own playbook by investing heavily in science, technology, and innovation. We ignore them at our peril.

Although the United States remains the leader, we are eating our seed corn. We are not investing in a new foundation of long-term R&D, scientific and technical education, and high-skilled immigration that will fuel innovation and economic prosperity 10, 20, or even 40 years from now.

Leaders at the summit, joined by a growing number in Congress, see the need to act. We hope for the sake of our children and grandchildren that more Americans jump aboard what Mr. Friel calls "the innovation bandwagon."