China Set To Surpass US In R&D Spending In 10 Years 233
dcblogs writes "China is on track to overtake the U.S. in spending on research and development in about 10 years, as federal R&D spending either declines or remains flat. The U.S. today maintains a large lead in spending over China, with federal and private sector investment expected to reach $424 billion next year, a 1.2% increase. By contrast, China's overall R&D spending is $220 billion next year, an increase of 11.6% over 2012, a rate similar to previous years. This finding is shared by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. 'China's investment as a percentage of its GDP shows continuing, deliberate growth that, if it continues, should surpass the roughly flat United States investment within a decade,' it said in a report last month."
China (Score:4, Informative)
Well, of course. China has 3x the population of the US.
And the interior provinces aren't even fully industrialized yet. That will change rapidly as the expressway and high speed rail networks are built out.
Re:maybe (Score:3, Informative)
2) Population is more relevant to GDP as Japan can amply demonstrate.
Re:Why not? (Score:5, Informative)
Just to be clear, he wasn't just saying "a scientist who is a Christian". Lamar Smith is a member of the sect called "Christian Science", which is an anti-science movement. Among other things, they believe that researching into disease is one of the main CAUSES of disease- that the way to reduce disease is to reduce the number of doctors and medical researchers in the world. They teach their members to avoid medicine and surgery at all cost, and to rely instead on the power of prayer and psychic healers to cure illness.
Lamar Smith isn't one of these by accident of birth; he wrote for the church newspaper, and is married to a "practitioner". His religious beliefs are directly related to his ability to do his job. If your job involves figuring out the national strategy for funding scientific research, and you believe that scientific researchers are the cause of all the world's ills, you may just have a small conflict of interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_S._Smith [wikipedia.org]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science [wikipedia.org]