Following precedent, the White House has released its memo to federal agencies signaling its R&D priorities for the president’s fiscal year 2019 budget request. Among its directions, the memo calls for fiscal restraint and reinforces the administration’s commitment to rolling back support for later-stage R&D and technology commercialization.

There is particular attention for STEM education in the paragraph titled: "Developing a Future-Focused Workforce," which states that: "The Administration is committed to improving the technical training of the American workforce through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and apprenticeships. Emerging technologies will present tremendous opportunities for new job creation, but will also require a technically skilled and capable workforce to meet demand. In order to maintain American competitiveness and help ensure that the domestic workforce is available and qualified for the jobs of the future, agencies should incorporate STEM education, including computer science education, and workforce training opportunities into their programs. Agencies should give priority to policies and actions that place an emphasis on expanding the STEM workforce to include all Americans, both urban and rural, and including women and other underrepresented groups in STEM fields. In order to track improvements in these areas, agencies should develop quantitative methods or metrics and collect data to analyze the effectiveness of the STEM programs."

Learning throughout life makes sense. Research shows it is good for your health, your wealth, your civic engagement and your family’s future prospects. It prolongs your independent life and enriches your quality of life. For companies, investing in worker skills makes sense too – it promotes flexibility and creativity, problem-solving, teamwork and an increased sense of agency among staff, making them happier and more productive. These are, of course, exactly the traits needed as companies face of the challenges of the latest industrial revolution. For governments, supporting learning in later life helps to delay the onset of dependency among rapidly ageing populations; plays an important role in overcoming inequality and exclusion; and supports inter-generational learning, creating more resilient families and communities. More broadly, learning fosters improved well-being.

Manufacturing: comparisons of manufacturing in the UK and other major economies since 1970 using UN data. This note uses UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data to compare manufacturing in different countries. The most recent data from this source are for 2014.

The indicators in the report present a synthesis of research and innovation performance in Italy. They relate knowledge investment and input to performance and economic output throughout the innovation cycle. They show thematic strengths in key technologies and also the high-tech and medium-tech contribution to the trade balance. The indicator on excellence in science and technology takes into consideration the quality of scientific production as well as technological development. The Innovation Output Indicator covers technological innovation, skills in knowledge-intensive activities, the competitiveness of knowledge-intensive goods and services, and the innovativeness of fast-growing enterprises, focusing on innovation output. The indicator on knowledge-intensity of the economy focuses on the economy’s sectoral composition and specialisation and shows the evolution of the weight of knowledge-intensive sectors and products.