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"Where the minds go, the future follows" - Futurist Jim Carroll

Let's talk about how once great nations lose their place in the global R&D background, and as a result, lose their future!

In 2009, I was the opening keynote speaker for the annual PMDA conference on innovation - with a talk on the 'hollowing out of corporate R&D." As noted on their site, "The Product Development and Management Association is a global community of professional members whose skills, expertise and experience power the most recognized and respected innovative companies in the world." The association membership includes key individuals involved in R&D for the 3M's, Duponts, Dow and other industrial powerhouses of the world.

They asked for a hard-hitting message on how the US was losing its position as the pre-eminent R&D 'factory' of the world, and I obliged. I took them on that tour, and wrote the blog post "The Hollowing Out of Corporate R&D." Essentially, I told the story of how the US was losing its dominance as other (mostly Asian) companies took the lead, as open source innovation took on new momentum, and small collaboration was beating 'big collaboration.'

Fast forward - we now have a nation that is turning its back on science, as it shutters entire R&D arms of government, as many begin to reject the essence of science itself, and as immigration and other policies begin to attack the individuals who undertake scientific research. This never ends well. Scientists will always pursue their work in the nations that welcome them, and which create an environment that is conducive to their slow, collaborative research.

History shows what happens when industrial or government policies decimate R&D.

The minds of science develop the future - the discoveries that are made fuel the innovations that are pursued which create the products that evolve. Keep in mind my key mantra for tomorrow: "Companies that do not yet exist will build products not yet conceived using materials not yet invented with methodologies not yet in existence with ideas yet to be imagined." That context provides the factory for the future, the jobs of tomorrow, and the possibilities for companies and nations to thrive. Thrive they won't when science is rejected.

In that context, how is global R&D science changing today compared to the trends I spoke about years ago? The "hollowing out" of traditional corporate R&D has accelerated, creating a more globally distributed innovation landscape where the U.S. maintains strength in software and AI but has lost ground in manufacturing innovation and materials science

And all this has happened before the nation decided to turn its back on science.

What's the future impact? Where the minds move, the future follows!

**#Innovation** **#Research** **#Science** **#Future** **#Global** **#Transformation** **#Competition** **#Knowledge** **#Technology** **#Investment**

Original post: https://jimcarroll.com/2025/03/daily-inspiration-the-hollowing-out-of-rd-where-the-minds-go-the-future-follows/