The U.S. is still out in front of global competitors when it comes to innovation (革新), but American universities—where new ideas often spread—have reason tolook over their shoulders.
That's especially true for technologies like 5G phone networks and artificial intelligence. In President Donald Trump's opinion, they're exactly the fields where the U.S. has to lead — and also the ones where Asia, especially China, is catching up. Universities from China get more patents than their U.S. peers in wireless communications, according to research firm GreyB Services. In AI, 17 of the top 20 universities and public research organizations are in China, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping the list, says the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.
There's a special place for universities in the development of science. Universities educate future scientists and can be incubators (孵化器) for pie-in-the-sky ideas—some of which turn out to be game-changers. The list ranges from Google's search engine to DNA technology that's behind a whole industry of gene-manipulating (基因编辑) treatments.
However, government aids to universities haven't been growing for more than a decade, meaning they've declined in real terms and as a share of the economy, leading to the cost increase for universities and meanwhile somehow discouraging the teaching staff from putting all their hearts into their scientific research.
"If you look at the federal dollars, they've not really changed considerably," says Stephen Susalka, head of AUTM, a technology transfer association whose members include 800 universities. "Other countries are catching up. We can't be satisfied with what we have achieved."
