providing the funding for increased technical education programs. The American Electronics Association and the Massachusetts High Technology Council, for example, have already established industrial giving programs to collect money from corporations and use it to fund faculty salaries and equipment. The federal government has a role to play too. By offering tax credits for corporate contributions to colleges and universities for teaching activities, as well as research, we can encourage private sector support to increase the capacity of our technical education facilities without requiring a new federal bureaucracy to carry it out. I believe that S. 1194 and 1195 will provide the proper kinds of incentives to increase the funding of our technical education facilities. As an important aside, we should also make sure that our immigration policy recognizes our need for trained technical people. In particular, since a high percentage of engineering students are foreign nationals, such students who develop technical skills in this country should be permitted to remain here. I'm hopeful that the immigration reform legislation currently making its way through Congress should recognize this need, rather than requiring such students to return to their home countries after receiving their education here. High technology is perhaps our most valuable national resource. We must preserve it. However, changes in our rate of technological innovation will come slowly. Innovation can't be forced, it can only be fostered. It is fostered by creating an environment 22-894 0-83--6 that emphasizes freedom of scientific and industrial activities and that offers incentives to the innovators, entrepreneurs and investors who have the talent and resources to advance technology. It is fostered by a strong base of fundamental technology and by a population that is well educated in science and its application. Finally, it is fostered in a healthy economic environment and by trade policies that provide expanding opportunities for our technological products. Promoting such an environment should be the primary objective of America's industrial policies. The swift enactment of S. 738, S. 1194, S. 1195 and their counterparts in the House would be important steps in the direction of fostering technological innovation and maintaining America's leadership in high technology. STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN DON RITTER MAY 27, 1983 MR. CHAIRMAN, IT IS AN HONOR TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY ON THE MERITS OF S.738 INTRODUCED THE PROCESS OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION INVOLVES BRINGING INTO MR. CHAIRMAN, AS WE ARE ALL AWARE, THE MINIMAL PROGRESS OUR NATION HAS MADE IN RECENT YEARS RELATIVE TO TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION HAS BEEN OF GREAT CONCERN, IN RECENT STUDIES PERFORMED BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, SERIOUS AND ALARMING TRENDS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED. IF I MAY, I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU SOME OF THE MORE MAJOR OBSERVATIONS NOTED IN THE NSF REPORT ON SCIENCE INDICATORS. FIRST, INVESTMENTS IN R&D HAVE POSITIVE LONG TERM EFFECTS ON AND WEST GERMANY RESPECTIVELY. IN ADDITION, WEST GERMANY AND JAPAN HAVE HELD THE HIGHEST RATIOS OF NATIONAL CIVILIAN R&D EXPENDITURE TO GNP OVER THE PAST TWENTY YEARS. THE FIGURES FOR JAPAN AND WEST GERMANY IN THE LATE 1970'S WERE 1.87 AND 2.18 RESPECTIVELY. IN CONTRAST TO 1.61 FOR THE U.S. IN 1981. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT U.S. INDUSTRY HAS RECOGNIZED THE FURTHERMORE, THE GROWTH RATE OF PRIVATE THE SIGNS ARE CLEAR: THE PRIVATE SECTOR IS WHERE R&D HAS ITS PRIMARY ECONOMIC RESULTS AND NEW EFFORTS SHOULD BE CONCENTRATED THERE. IT IS THIS AREA WHERE WE MUST PROMOTE INVESTMENT TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE. AS VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSE REPUBLICAN TASK FORCE ON HIGH TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES. I SHOULD EMPHASIZE OUR PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES. THAT IS, TO SUPPORT A LEGISLATIVE AGENDA WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE PROPER ECONOMIC CLIMATE TO STIMULATE INVESTMENT, ENCOURAGE INVENTION AND REWARD INNOVATORS AND ENTRE PENEURS. S.738 IS THE TYPE OF LEGISLATION THAT THIS COUNTRY NEEDS TO CREATE VENTURE WHICH REQUIRES HARD-NOSED DECISION-MAKING AND LONG TERM FINANCIAL COMMITMENT. AS A FORMER MANAGER OF RESEARCH PROGRAM WILL NOT MAKE THE NECESSARY COMMITMENT OF RESOURCES WITHOUT LONG IN THESE DAYS OF BUDGET CONTROVERSY AND YAWNING DEFICITS, LET US |