Emerging tech’s ‘Sputnik moment’ requires private and public sector cooperation

In 1957, we experienced a technological earthquake with the launch of Sputnik by the Russians. It was a disruption we didn’t see coming, but it ushered in a dramatic shift in how global leaders prioritized science and technology policy.

This seismic event prompted an unprecedented national commitment to the United States space program, and federal government investments in science and technology that we continue to build on as a nation. Less than 12 years later, the U.S. planted a flag on the moon and made a down payment on our future as a technology leader.

Those strategic national investments spurred decades of innovation and made today’s digital innovations possible. They also firmly established the U.S. as a technology innovator, with long-term payoffs in aviation, microelectronics, communications, navigation, and more.  However, somewhere along the way, priorities shifted. Federal spending on investments in infrastructure, research and development (R&D), as well as education and training dropped from 6 percent of GDP in the 1960s to 2 percent of GDP by 2018. As a result, U.S. technology leadership in some areas is no longer a given.

Over the past year, we have experienced our own “Sputnik moment.” The COVID-19 pandemic caused a technological earthquake that caught many of us flat-footed. It was a wake-up call that reminded us of the importance of connectivity and forced us to recognize that access to digital tools and infrastructure is uneven across our society. But the pandemic has also brought out the best in human ingenuity, accelerating the digital transformation of U.S. and global economies, along with changing the way that governments, health providers, companies of all sizes, academic institutions and other organizations, operate and do business.

As the U.S. emerges from the pandemic, leaders in the public and private sector alike must grasp the opportunities presented by emerging technologies. Other governments are racing to develop, deploy and lead in the technologies of the future.  If we don’t invest in our science and technological leadership, we will fall behind.

The GeoTech Commission at the Atlantic Council recently completed a 14-month in-depth, bipartisan study with a series of recommendations for how governments should respond to the geopolitical impacts of new technologies and data. To that end, we call on leaders in Congress and the Biden administration to make bold, strategic investments in our domestic technology infrastructure and our workforce to ensure the U.S. stays at the forefront of innovation, and to ensure that emerging technologies are a force for good. Policymakers — on both sides of the aisle — must recognize the high stakes of the today’s technology revolution.

First, let’s start with people. In total, science, technology, engineering and math skills, as well as training underpin two-thirds of U.S. jobs (67 percent), 69 percent of U.S. GDP, and $2.3 trillion in annual federal tax revenue. Yet, unless Congress acts, then according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the U.S. will face a shortfall of nearly 3.4 million skilled technical workers by 2022. We must invest in education and training as well as pursue smart immigration policy to ensure that the American workforce has the skills to meet these needs.

Second, when it comes to critical technologies, the U.S. currently lacks adequate domestic capabilities to produce leading edge semiconductors. Policymakers have been rightly focused on making strategic investments to plug this gap in the supply chain. Congress took an important step by passing legislation authorizing several incentives to bolster U.S. semiconductor capabilities, though Congress still must appropriate the necessary funding. Such necessary funding is not about corporate welfare — appropriating the funding is about ensuring that the U.S. has a resilient supply chain that can withstand any future disruption — pandemic or otherwise. Lawmakers should get this done without delay.

Third, it will take more than revitalizing U.S. manufacturing to remain at the forefront of innovation. We must invest in the digital infrastructure that will power tomorrow’s smart factories and help transition to a greener economy. We need to leverage U.S. strengths in research and development, high performance computing, as well as machine learning to optimize operations, drive energy efficiency, and harness tools like cloud platforms for supply chain management and security. Our government also needs to invest in modernizing its own IT infrastructure and embracing emerging technologies to deliver better, faster services to the American people.

Fourth, governments and industry also need to modernize their approach to the future of space development. In the next five years, there will be thousands more satellites in orbit providing services to people around the globe, from communication, navigation, agriculture, resource management, disaster monitoring and relief and security. With hundreds of actors and thousands of satellites operating between Earth and the moon, the risks of interference and collision are significant. The U.S. government should collaborate with partner nations and the space industry on the necessary agreements for safe operations in space.

Fifth, we must focus on partnerships. If government and tech work together, we can better navigate this digital landscape to increase the health and welfare of all people in a manner that promotes privacy, enhances data security and fosters trust in the tools that we all increasingly rely on to navigate our daily lives.

We must build, fund, and nurture this innovation flywheel to maintain U.S. science and technology leadership, as well as shape a better future for all.

We know the challenges we face, as well as the opportunities before us. Now is the time for action.

David Bray is executive director of the Atlantic Council’s Commission on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data. Business Insider named him one of the “24 Americans Changing the World.”  

Max Peterson is vice president of Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services.