Patent Development - China going Deep

In a previous post, I commented the possible Computer Scientists Crisis, especially, involving Americans. This situation can be showing some the future consequences that the country will have to deal.

According to China's State Intellectual Property Office, in the last year, China received more patent applications that any country (694.000). The U.S had the second most applications (484.955), followed by Japan (443,150). [see the note in Communications of the ACM]

Still according to the note, if China's number of patent applications continues at its current rate, it will lead the world in invention patent application by 2012.

About it, some Americans are wondering about this situation in the short future. Yesterday, I had a dinner with David Weiss, director from Avaya Labs, in New Jersey, and we were discussing about politics, previous presidents, their legacy and consequences. David highlighted exactly this issue: The lost of investments for research and education, the interest for students in the area, the fact that nowadays most graduates are not Americans and they are returning for their country. Maybe, we have to wait for the next years and analyze this point which could have a great impact in science and technology around the world.