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A. Increasing Globalization of R&D

It is becoming increasingly difficult to separate one nation’s unique non-military S&T assets and advantages from another nation. There are several reasons for this:

• Expansion in international travel and communications – foreign nationals account for about ½ of US graduate students in certain key technology & engineering fields; commercial aviation, long-distance phones and the Internet make sharing data easy; publications and conferences are increasing.

• Large corporations are increasingly becoming multi-national or international themselves -- a company with manufacturing facilities on several continents (Ford, GM, Toyota) will undertake R&D in a number of nations simultaneously and share the results within itself across national boundaries and with other institutions as part of deliberate technology sharing strategies. Meanwhile, auto companies are continuing to merge into true multi-national corporations: recent example include Daimler Chrysler, the Renault Nissan alliance, the purchase of Rolls Royce by Volkswagen, and the purchase of British and Swedish manufacturers (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Volvo) by Ford.

How does this reflection change our perception of the situation? Is it in fact true that it is no longer easy to disentangle U.S. R&D ‘assets’ and ‘advantages’ from those available to other nations as well? Is it still possible to take measures to enhance the inventory of key ‘U.S.’ technologies in transportation and other critical fields without letting these become available to others?

B. The U.S. Position viz a viz our International Competitors: Where Do We Stand?

How does the U.S. ‘stack up’ to our major international competitors? Are we generally ahead, tied with, or behind them in our access to and application of key technologies? Are there identifiable and desirable foreign transportation-related technologies to which we want to establish better U.S. access?

C. Successful Value-capturing

What is the best approach to take to identify those specific transportation-related foreign technologies that would benefit the U.S.? To actually obtaining access to these technologies?

Is there in fact a desire or need to do this in an organized way? If so, what is the best role for the government? For industry? For academia?

D. Continuing the Process

How should we continue this process of focusing on transportation-related technologies?

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