Information Technology Research in a Competitive World

过去十年来，信息技术市场和技术的变化带来了计算和通信行业竞争的快速增长。 新公司如雨后春笋般涌现，娱乐等相关行业的现有公司也进入IT领域，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使得人们越来越重视分布式系统，并开辟了计算、通信和娱乐产品融合的可能性。 这些变化也促使企业重视开发新产品和扩大市场份额，而不是支持信息技术研究。 加上财政压力限制政府资助的研究，除了最基本的研究类型，这些趋势导致人们担心美国将越来越难以维持信息技术基础。 计算机科学及电信委员会将成立一个跨专业研究委员会，研究信息技术研发的趋势，确定是否存在问题，并探讨保留研究和技术基础的方案。 在解决支持未来IT创新的来源问题时，该研究将探讨IT研究企业中工业界、学术界和政府角色的变化。 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，委员会将提出关于保持平衡的IT研发努力的最有效方法的建议。

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.