NACE Joins American “Innovation Imperative”

NACE Joins American Innovation Imperative
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and 250 other organizations in American business, industry, higher education, science, and engineering have joined to call for stronger federal policies and investment to drive domestic research and development. The Innovation: An American Imperative is “A call to action by American industry, higher education, science, and engineering leaders urging Congress to enact policies and make investments that ensure the United States remains the global innovation leader.”

NACE, along with 252 organizations and 10 leaders of American business, signed Innovation: An American Imperative, a document underscoring the findings of a report by The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Restoring the Foundation: The Vital Roll of Research in Preserving the American Dream. (To discuss on Twitter, use hashtag #InnovationImperative.)

The CEOs who have signed on to the effort are:

Samuel R. Allen, Chairman & CEO, John Deere

Norman R. Augustine, Co-Chair, Restoring the Foundation

Wes Bush, Chairman, President & CEO, Northrop Grumman

Kenneth C. Frazier, Chairman & CEO, Merck & Co., Inc.

Marillyn A. Hewson, Chairman, President, & CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation

Charles O. Holliday, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell plc

Joseph Jimenez, CEO, Novartis

W. James McNerney, Jr., Chairman of the Board & CEO, The Boeing Company

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

Jay Timmons, President and CEO, National Association of Manufacturers

According to Restoring the Foundation, “There is a deficit between what America is investing and what it should be investing to remain competitive, not only in research but in innovation and job creation.” The United States is failing to keep pace with competitor nations with regard to investments in basic research and development. America’s ascendency in the 20th century was due in large part—if not primarily—to its investments in science and engineering research. Basic research is behind every new product brought to market, every new medical device or drug, every new defense and space technology and many innovative business practices.

Over the last two decades, a steady decline in investment in research & development (R&D) in the United States has allowed our nation to fall to 10th place in R&D investment among organization for Economic Co-operation and development (OECD) nations as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).

At this pace, China will surpass the United States in R&D intensity in about eight years.

These developments led a diverse coalition of those concerned with the future of research in America to join together in presenting the Innovation Imperative to federal policy makers and urging them to take action to:

End sequestration’s deep cuts to federal investments in R&D

Make permanent a strengthened federal R&D tax credit

Improve student achievement in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM)

Reform U.S. visa policy

Streamline or eliminate costly and inefficient regulations

Reaffirm merit-based peer review

Stimulate further improvements in advanced manufacturing

Details on these action items, as well as a full list of signatories, are included in the full document, which is linked above and posted on the websites of each of the following organizations:

American Academy of Arts & Sciences

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Association of American Universities

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities

Battelle

Coalition for National Science Funding

Coalition for National Security Research

Council on Competitiveness

Energy Sciences Coalition

Task Force on American Innovation

The Science Coalition

August 2015

NACE Joins American Innovation Imperative