https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report
As most of the data sets seem to end in 2016, this report can be a benchmark or watershed mark.
The first thing that caught my attention was the continuing decline (as a percentage of GDP) in US Federal Government support for basic scientific research. (Browsing Chapter 4).
"Most of the rise of the R&D/GDP ratio over the past several decades has come from the increase of nonfederal spending on R&D, particularly that by the business sector (figure 4-3). This reflects the growing role of business R&D in the national R&D system and, in turn, the growing prominence of R&D-derived goods and services in the national and global economies. By contrast, the ratio of federal R&D spending to GDP declined from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, notably from cuts in defense-related R&D. There had been a gradual uptick through 2009, the result of increased federal spending on biomedical and national security R&D and the one-time incremental funding for R&D provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)."
But other issues suffuse:
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/overview/workers-with-s-e-skills
As most of the data sets seem to end in 2016, this report can be a benchmark or watershed mark.
The first thing that caught my attention was the continuing decline (as a percentage of GDP) in US Federal Government support for basic scientific research. (Browsing Chapter 4).
"Most of the rise of the R&D/GDP ratio over the past several decades has come from the increase of nonfederal spending on R&D, particularly that by the business sector (figure 4-3). This reflects the growing role of business R&D in the national R&D system and, in turn, the growing prominence of R&D-derived goods and services in the national and global economies. By contrast, the ratio of federal R&D spending to GDP declined from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, notably from cuts in defense-related R&D. There had been a gradual uptick through 2009, the result of increased federal spending on biomedical and national security R&D and the one-time incremental funding for R&D provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)."
But other issues suffuse:
https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/overview/workers-with-s-e-skills
Globally, first university degree awards in S&E fields, broadly equivalent to a bachelor’s degree, totaled more than 7.5 million, according to the most recent estimates. Almost half of these degrees were conferred in two Asian countries: India (25%) and China (22%); another 22% together were conferred in the European Union (EU; see Glossary for member countries) (12%) and in the United States (10%). University degree production in China has grown faster than in other major developed nations and regions (Figure O-1). Between 2000 and 2014, the number of S&E bachelor’s degrees awarded in China rose more than 350%, significantly faster than in the United States and in many other European and Asian regions and economies. Additionally, during the same period, the number of non-S&E degrees conferred in China also rose dramatically (by almost 1,200%), suggesting that capacity building in China, as indicated by bachelor’s degree awards, is occurring in both S&E and non-S&E areas.