Further, it could foreclose technology options that the global community will need to systematically address the environmental impacts of energy. The economic dangers of this under-investment will be greatly magnified by global competition, a shrinking workforce, and the needs of an aging population in the new century. Rapidly growing international capabilities are shaping new realities, which need to be addressed in tax, regulatory, education, and immigration policies. The robust short-term performance of the U.S. economy today encourages complacency about innovation in both the public and private sectors. A strong case can be made, however, that today's innovative achievements are a legacy of historic assets that are not being renewed.
Sustained innovation is the key to maintaining prosperity.
High wages cannot be justified unless new products, services, and processes are continually created. The U.S. is in a stronger position than any other nation to lead the essential balancing of global economic and environmental imperatives, but that window of opportunity will diminish under rising global demographic pressures. The U.S. and the other most affluent industrialized nations are a shrinking minority of the world's population. Globalization is also leveling the innovation playing field and collapsing the margins of technological leadership. Roadmap participants question the preparedness of the U.S. for success in a world with a much broader capacity to innovate.