Investments in Infratechnology as an Indicator of Technological Advancement: An Exploratory Study

本探索性研究的目的是开发美国基础设施技术总投资的时间序列数据，并评估这些投资与各种技术进步指标之间的统计关系。总体而言，长期以来，研究与开发支出的变化——包括对科学基础、通用技术和专有技术的直接投资——一直被视为我国经济技术健康状况的重要指标。然而，进行研发的效率很大程度上取决于对基础技术的投资，这些基础技术包括非专有的测量和测试方法、程序以及支持行业内部研发、生产和营销活动的数据。因此，关于基础设施技术总投资的数据可以代表一个国家技术进步的重要新指标。因此，这个项目有助于基金会承担收集和解释科学和工程资源数据的责任。

The purpose of this exploratory study is to develop time series data on aggregate investments in infratechnology in the U.S. and to evaluate the statistical relationship between these investments and various indices of technological advancement. In general, changes in research and development (R&D) expenditures-- which capture direct investments into the scientific base, generic technologies and proprietary technologies--have long been viewed as an important indicator of the technological health of our economy. The efficiency of conducting R&D, however, depends heavily on investments in infratechnologies, which consist of nonproprietary measurement and test methods, procedures, and data that support an industry's internal R&D, production and marketing activities. As such, data on aggregate investments in infratechnology could represent an important new indicator of the Nation's technological advancement. This project thereby could contribute to the Foundation's responsibility to provide for the collection and interpretation of data on scientific and engineering resources.