Sunday, October 18, 2009

Basic Research

There is a great op-ed piece today in the Boston Globe over something I have been writing about for a number of months. This piece written by Robert Weisman is titled Business Intelligence and can be found here: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/10/18/the_building_blocks_of_new_industries_are_missing/.

The article states that we have little basic research in the US as compared to the past and that hampers our abilities to create new industries and new inventions or innovations. While our life science success in Massachusetts has been very good, it has masked this lack of basic research that we used to do in abundance. In a state that relies on innovation and creativity in our economy as much as Massachusetts does, it is critical that we return to our roots, tend our knitting, begin at home or any other worn but true cliché you can come up with.

The articles about Evergreen Solar in the Globe over the past few days detail the problem with picking winners and losers in our economy. I hope that Evergreen does well and becomes a leading company in Massachusetts, but we need to take precious state resources and put them in areas where all businesses can take advantage of them. We need to maximize our resources and let the market decide what is the next technology or invention. If I were king of the Forest, I would have used the stimulus money to launch a new economy rather than bail out the old. I would have called it “Retool America” and we would invest in job training, basic research along with the renewed emphasis on science and math in our schools. I would prepare industrial sites, manage our water and electric systems better and new equipment for our voke-tech schools.

A few years ago, I was in Mexico visiting companies along with other state officials including then Gov. Mike Huckabee from Arkansas. One of our fellow travelers told the companies in Mexico that they believe that Mexico took our jobs in the US after NAFTA was enacted. The companies replied that this wasn’t true and went on to defend their roles. However, they then bemoaned the fact that they were losing jobs and market to companies in China! Last year, I was in China in October to speak at a large tech conference. In meetings with Chinese officials, they told me they were losing jobs to Vietnam and Thailand because labor was cheaper. My point is this: We are never going to be the cheapest labor in the US. However, we can use our strengths in innovation and education to create new good paying jobs in new areas. We need to stay one step ahead of the competition on this and that means basic research to create new businesses.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I have often wondered why stimulus money is spent paving roads instead of helping create/ sustain new industry or technology. Don't get me wrong I like having nice roads, but the jobs are short term and the benefit is flat [pun intended], it can not grow on its own when the stimulus money runs out... it is just a road with no growth potential..

Glenn Maloney

dan bosley said...

That is it in a nut shell. We need to use this money in a sustainable fashion. There is not enough money in the federal budget to create the next economy. that has to be done by the private sector, but we need to lay the foundation. If not, we will be jobless and in debt (federally speaking). We need to use this money in ways that has a lasting effect, and goes back to investing in the underlying assets that make America work. I am afraid that Wall St goes back to the ways that got them into trouble if we don't do this.

Patricia Carter said...

Big researches take time and all you have to do is to be patient.
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Suzan Baker said...

I would love to go to mexico. Its a wonderful place...
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