We recently considered the argument that by sheer force of population size and autocratic strategic focus, China has an innate competitive advantage in basic research in materials science and strategic chip innovation. To counter that argument, we will use the following two case studies to examine the issue of scale as an inherent competitive advantage of the United States.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) $500 million commitment for “basic research to advance the frontiers of science.” And in a new paper from the Special Competitive Research Project (SCSP), “The Role of Data in Unlocking Scientific Potential,” the U.S. uses vast amounts of data as a competitive advantage to drive economic growth and social benefits. (This is SCSP’s latest report as part of the National Data Action Plan, published in December 2022).
Why is this important?
The general discussion of great power competition needs to become more quantitative and detailed. In other words, what is working? Where has the United States achieved real achievements and competitive advantages over China in deep, frontier, and exponential technologies? Is there a way to quantify and consider next steps? And what’s next? Don’t focus on the size of your resources relative to your competitors or the size of their respective budgets. This post concerns the scale of the United States’ commitment to basic frontier scientific research and the scale of untapped data resources available in the United States. In our research activities, we continually ask the following questions: What are the tangible results and innate competitive advantages, or hidden resources, unique to America’s scientific research infrastructure and free market economy? These can now be leveraged to America’s strategic competitive advantage. Global competition in tough, deep, frontier and exponential technologies.
What’s next?
The OODA Loop Research Questions above work in the context of the following OODA Loop Research Themes currently in progress.
