
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210074
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FORGET THE WAR; U.S. LOSING BADLY IN HIGH-TECH CONTEST

The United States, which a decade ago had a commanding lead in high technology, is now losing badly to foreign competitors in a number of fields considered crucial to the country's economic future and national security, a group of executives said Wednesday.

The Council on Competitiveness, a nonprofit organization composed of top leaders in business, education and labor, reviewed America's position in 94 technologies judged to be critical over the next decade.

In about two-thirds, it said, the United States was still either the world leader or competitive with the best in the world.

But in a third of the crucial technologies, the council said U.S. companies were so far behind that they either were no longer a factor in world markets or were considered so weak that they were expected to fall hopelessly behind over the next five years.

"America's once-commanding lead in the critical technologies driving economic growth and national security is being seriously challenged by foreign competitors," the council said in its report.

Among the technologies placed in the lost column were silicon production and the sophisticated robots used in factory automation.

Also listed in the lost category were two technologies - display materials and computer memory chips - considered vital for development of high-definition television. Companies in the United States, Japan and Europe are racing to capture a multibillion-dollar market by developing the next generation of television sets.

The council said Americans should not be lulled into complacency by the success of U.S. weapons in the Persian Gulf War, noting that many were developed in the 1960s and 1970s when the United States still enjoyed a commanding lead in high technology.

"America's performance in the gulf should not be interpreted as a sign of unassailable U.S. technological strength," said George Fisher, the chairman of the council and the chief executive officer of Motorola Inc. "We are losing leadership in too many areas of high technology."

The report, which took two years to prepare, said U.S.-owned consumer-electronics companies had been practically eliminated by foreign competition, while America's share of the machine-tool industry has slipped from 50 percent of the world market to 10 percent and the once-dominant U.S. semiconductor industry is now a distant second to the Japanese.

"Even such American success stories as chemicals, computers and aerospace have foreign competitors close on their heels," the council said.

The report recommended that:

President Bush declare technological leadership a national priority and direct federal agencies such as the Office of Science and Technology to work with industry to redefine America's research goals and the accompanying federal budget commitments.

America's universities bolster engineering and management programs and work to speed up the transfer of laboratory breakthroughs to potential U.S. users.

U.S. manufacturers seek changes in antitrust laws to enable companies to share information on emerging technologies while working toward a goal of improving their record of commercializing new technologies.

by CNB