The recent report of the Foundation for Innovation and Information Te chnology has the merit of hitting the spirits and revive the pre-election debate on the (relative) of the United States on innovation. If we consider the progress in terms of innovation achieved in the last ten years, the United States last indeed come to a ranking of 40 countries!

We know, the capacity for innovation and the knowledge economy have become the major criteria of competition between developed nations. The latter sought through it to attract a maximum number of enterprises with high added value. The ITIF report, evaluates the competitiveness of innovation in different

countries. It follows another report that we were echoed recently , and leading the same analysis but for different states of the United States. The same indicators, sixteen in total, were used to evaluate the performance of the 40 most developed countries technologically. They were grouped into six categories: - Entrepreneurship - Human capital, - Political support - Information infrastructure and communication - Ability to innovate and - Economic performance. It is important to note that these performance measures are generally related to the number of population or GDP. For example, the number of researchers per thousand inhabitants, or investments in venture capital as a percentage of GDP. Unlike many previous studies, this recent analysis does not place the United States leading the way to competitiveness and innovation. With a score of 64 out of 100, arrived in the country is sixth in this ranking, well below Singapore, first with 73.4 points. The Europe of 15 is in 18th position with a score of 52.5. In total, the United States ahead of Europe in 13 of the 16 indicators used. These results, however, mask large differences within the various European states, Sweden and Denmark and ahead of the USA in the final. The three strengths of the old continent in terms of competitiveness and innovation are: a lower corporate taxation, foreign trade and foreign investment (by non-EU) most important. However, note with interest that the report highlights the considerable progress made in Europe in terms of supporting research and innovation, both through the European institutions and by the action of each member country. It is also interesting to note that if Europe presents performances vary according to country, we also find considerable differences between the different states of the United States. Thus, if one considers the figures in the national rankings released last year by the ITIF which used the same indicators as those mentioned above, the innovation performance of Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington far exceeded those of Sweden. But the most striking result of this study is that all the other 39 countries surveyed grew faster than the United States to the new knowledge economy and innovation. The evolution of the figures between 1999 and 2009 testifies: 2.7 percentage points increase for the United States while in contrast, China won it almost 20 points. The progress made by the EU-15 and especially the EU-10 exceed those of the United States, with respectively 8.5 and 12.3 points earned in a decade. Finally, if the greater Europe continued on that momentum, it would exceed U.S. performance in innovation by 2020. These results have important implications for the United States. According to the report, if the country wants to restore its reputation, it must implement innovation policies at the federal level. According to ITIF, the U.S. is led by a liberal advocating decentralization and a superiority complex about their leadership position in science and technology. Results: they have not developed a proactive innovation policies at national level. It is true that part of the Americans continue to believe that the problem of innovation is a response to each state, each town and each school, not the impulses of Washington. The major private universities, top international rankings, even develop a sort of mistrust vis-à -vis the federal initiatives. After all, except in time of war, the United States has never used such a strategy. But in an open world, the super power is more exposed, especially if the innovation capacity of other nations is growing faster at the same time. The new administration seems to have understood the message. It envisages, among other things, to develop incentives for innovative companies, to facilitate the country's access to immigrants with high skills, promote the digital economy and support the institutions that play a decisive role in innovation . It also envisages the establishment of a foundation of innovation (the NIF), and a reform of the national patent system and the FDA. That site to open, especially in these times of economic downturn where the means of the Federal Government are precious! Information Technology Source: Http://www.itif.org/files/EABC_Presentation.pdf