China Catches Up with the US in Science and Tech

A new report from the National Science Board identifies changes in the US’s global R&D investment and output, as well as in the country’s science and engineering workforce in recent years.

Written byCatherine Offord

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The United States’s scientific and engineering output has shrunk relative to that of the rest of the world, a new series of analyses from the National Science Board, the policymaking organization for the National Science Foundation, reveals. The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2020, a summary report published on Wednesday (January 15), finds that the adoption of American-style investment in science and engineering education in China and other countries has helped overseas nations grow their R&D economies at a faster rate than the US.

“The changing global landscape affects the position of the United States relative to the other major global players,” the report states. “For example, the United States has seen its relative share of global [science and technology] activity remain unchanged or shrink, even as its absolute activity levels have continued to rise.”

The report adds: “Increasingly, the United States is seen ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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