Established in 1863 under the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, the American Academy of Sciences’ mission is to advise the nation on matters related to science and technology. In a new report, the institution, whose 500 members have won Nobel Prizes, is seriously worried about the future.
As the country continues to generate 20% of the world’s gross domestic product with only around 4% of the world’s population, it will be essential for it to be able to count on foreign talent and no longer simply assume that the United States remains the destination “by default” of the best minds:
“The United States must find new and better ways to encourage scientists and engineers from around the world and their families to come to this country to work and live here.”
The report of the American Academy of Sciences “comes at a time of increasing attention to visa delays and shortages, which have encouraged talented foreign-born students and professionals to look to other countries”says the magazine Forbes.
Towards a shortage of local talent
Moreover, observes the magazine, local talent is starting to run out. Forbes reproduces the results of a National Science Foundation survey dated 2019. They show that, with the exception of the pharmaceutical sector, international students and foreign graduates far outnumber American students in all fields of study. Applied Science.
Interviewed by Forbes, Chris Miller, a specialist in microchips, says that immigrants have played a fundamental role since the origin of this sector and that recruiting engineers and scientists from abroad is the best way to reinforce the dominant position of the United States. United in technology. But, he points out, “the combination of new visa and travel restrictions and China’s efforts to retain its researchers could neutralize America’s historic ability to strip its geopolitical rivals of their smartest minds”.
For an open research environment
With China clearly in its sights, the American Academy of Sciences argues in a statement that the government’s propensity to protect access to its technologies must evolve as science, technology and innovation have become more multidisciplinary. and multinational corporations, complicating efforts to protect innovations from military or commercial competitors.
The institution thus urges Joe Biden to issue a presidential decree “that maximizes the amount of work that can be done in an open research environment – an approach that will promote American leadership in science and engineering, attract top talent, and foster discoveries leading to new technologies”.