Information Technology Research in a Competitive World

过去十年来，信息技术市场和技术的变化导致计算和通信行业的竞争迅速加剧。新公司如雨后春笋般涌现，娱乐等相关行业的现有公司已进入IT行业，与传统设备制造商、软件公司和服务提供商竞争。网络技术的进步和组件的小型化导致了对分布式系统的日益重视，并为计算、通信和娱乐产品的融合开辟了可能性。这些变化也促使企业重视新产品的开发和市场份额的扩大，而不是对信息技术研究的支持。再加上财政压力限制政府资助的研究只限于最基本类型的研究，这些趋势引发了人们的担忧，即美国维持信息技术基础的难度将越来越大。计算机科学与电信委员会(CSTB)将成立一个跨学科研究委员会，以审查信息技术研发的趋势，确定是否存在问题，并探索保留研究和技术基础的选择。在解决未来IT创新的支持来源问题时，这项研究将审查行业、学术界和政府在IT研究企业中不断变化的角色。通过咨询行业团体、政府机构和其他行业成功的财团方法的代表，委员会将就保持IT研发努力平衡的最有效方式提出建议。

Changes in information technology (IT) markets and technologies over the past decade have brought about rapid growth in competition in the computing and communications industries. New firms have sprung up and existing firms from related industries such as entertainment have moved into the IT sector to compete with traditional equipment manufacturers, software firms, and service providers. Advances in network technology and miniaturization of components have led to increasing emphasis on distributed systems and have opened up possibilities of convergence of computing, communications, and entertainment products. These changes have also provided an incentive for corporations to emphasize development of new products and expansion of market share over support of IT research. Combined with fiscal pressures to limit government funded research in all but the most basic types of research, these trends have led to concerns that the United States will have increasing difficulty sustaining the information technology base. The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) will establish a cross-disciplinary study committee to examine trends in R&D for information technology, determine whether a problem exists, and explore options for preserving the research and technology base. In addressing the issue of sources of support for future innovations in IT, the study will examine the changing roles of industry, academia, and government in the IT research enterprise. By consulting with industry groups, government agencies, and representatives of successful consortia approaches in other industries, the committee will develop recommendations as to the most effective way to maintain a balanced IT R&D effort.