2018 Digest

The subject emphasis of scientific research varies somewhat across the globe. Biomedical sciences (biological sciences, medical sciences, and other life sciences) and engineering—two fields that are vital to knowledge-intensive and technologically advanced economies—account for 57% of the worldwide total of S&E publications. The United States and the EU produce a significant number of global biomedical sciences articles, each larger than China’s production. However, China produced the largest number of engineering articles, more than the production in the United States as well as the EU. As in other fields, however, U.S. and European articles continue to receive more citations than those from China, but China’s articles are increasingly cited internationally.

Industries that intensively embody new knowledge and technological advances in their production account for 31% of global economic output. They span both manufacturing sectors (air- and spacecraft, electrical machinery and appliances, motor vehicles and parts, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, and semiconductors) and services sectors (education, health, financial, business, and communications).

Thirty-eight percent of the U.S. gross domestic product derives from knowledge- and technology-intensive manufacturing and service industries, higher than any other large economy.

In commercial knowledge-intensive (KI) services (financial, business, and communications), the United States continues to be the largest provider, while output in the EU and Japan has declined in the aftermath of the Great Recession. China has grown very rapidly, surpassing Japan in 2012 to become the third largest provider.

In medium-high-technology manufacturing industries, the United States and the EU are roughly tied as the second largest global producer. China has grown rapidly and has become the largest producer. The motor vehicle and parts industry drove overall growth of these industries in the United States and in China, with output rising nearly 60% in the United States between 2011 and 2016 and nearly six-fold in China over the last decade.

In high-technology (HT) manufacturing industries, the United States is the largest global producer. China has grown rapidly and is now the second largest producer. Information and communications technologies have driven China’s increased output. Historically, China’s HT manufacturing has largely been in lower value-added activities, such as the assembly of HT foreign components. China has made recent progress in moving to more advanced HT manufacturing activities in certain areas, such as supercomputers and smaller jetliners.