Here’s a sobering prediction: A new study put out by The New Democratic Leadership Council predicts that American investment in research and development will experience its biggest decline in 30 years. R&D spending is expected to fall 2.4% in 2009- marking the third time in 30 years the nation has witnessed a pullback in research spending.

Continued R&D spending is considered a key to economic growth. And there are companies that have continued to keep up their research investments.

Nevertheless, the US overall now lags behind its competitors in terms of the percent of the nation’s general economic output invested into research. Today, US research spending accounts for only 2.5% of its GDP. In Sweden, Finland, Japan and South Korea, research spending accounts for in excess of 3% of national economic output.

Source: BusinessWeek – Management IQ