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Capitalizing On A Regional Research Portal To Transform U.S. Research And Development

CAPITALIZING ON A REGIONAL RESEARCH PORTAL TO TRANSFORM U.S. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Margaret Saunders Spurlin, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Frank H. Akers, Jr., Ph.D., Oak Ridge National Laboratory


Abstract
In order for the United States to compete in the global economy as a technology leader, the stakeholders must transform our research and development (R&D) system. In some ways, our current R&D system can be thought of as the familiar multisided, multicolored Rubik’s Cube®. While the numerous pieces can be turned and twisted, the base colors remain represented by federal, private, academic R&D; private-public partnerships; the educational system; and the disruptive unknown unknown. For us today, the problem is that all of the colors on each side completely match when each side should be completely integrated. This paper recommends the transformation of the current U.S. R&D system into an integrated national research infrastructure designed to make the federal research capability more accessible to the private sector. In order to scale the proposed transformation, the integration of the federal R&D system can begin through a prototypical Southeast regional portal.

Keywords
R&D integration, R&D transformation, technological preeminence

Introduction
Comparing economic indicators has become routine practice for those forecasting global business leadership. Exhibit 1 lists data from The Economist (Aug. 18, 2007) showing comparisons.

Exhibit 1. Sample Economic Data
Country Trade balance One year GDP growth One year industrial production
United States ($823.4B) 1.8% 1.4%
China $200B+ 11.9% 18%
Germany $200B+
Japan $100B
Russia $100B+
India 9.1%
Hungary 8.9%
Source: The Economist, August 18 – 24, 2007, Vol. 384, No. 8542.

The data are only a small part of the larger body of evidence suggesting that the U.S. economy is facing stiff technological competition in the global marketplace. The United States has always...