| Research and Development At regular intervals I read stories of Europe's Research and Development (R&D) being less than that of the US. EU governments exhort their country's companies to spend more, and they promulgate complex regulations to give R&D tax breaks. Anything, in fact, except spending real cash themselves! A piece about HP Labs being decimated in the recent layoffs left me thinking about this issue. Two things occurred to me. The first is that the US might not now be quite as far ahead as the statistics seem to prove. In an economic downturn it is often the R&D that gets hit most, since it is not seen as producing an immediate revenue stream - apart from HP Labs, I know that the famous Bell Labs has suffered cutbacks in the last few years. This sort of thing wouldn't show up in the statistics yet, since they are usually several years behind the times. Also, unlike the US governments, European governments are not heavy consumers of home grown hi tech. To give just one example, the Pentagon is the largest consumer of software in the world. Most of it is produced by US companies. This sort of thing gives the US companies a powerful incentive to invest in R&D. If their R&D comes up with something good, there is a ready market for it in the government, especially if you can add an anti-terrorist slant. "Have I got a product for you! Anti-terrorist pot noodles with built in anthrax detection!" Here in the UK, for instance, the government buys non-functioning software from US companies like EDS, without our home grown industry even get a look in. Mad really when you think about it. Our own stuff couldn't do any worse, and you never know, it might actually work, unlike the snake oil they are buying at the moment. One day, maybe, things will change. But don't hold your breath... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/22/hp_labs_cuts/
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