This is a study of the organization of technological inventive activity within and across national boundaries and of the participation of the United States and other countries. Inventive activity is an intellectual tradition which is cultivated in most societies. Inventors, their laboratories or firms, and nations compete with each others in inventive activity, but they often also cooperate with others. One goal is to describe the dispersion of inventive activity (in the form of patents, for example) across the world. Another goal is to examine the position of the United States and to compare it to other centers of inventive activity (Japan and Western Europe). The study will enhance our understanding of the patterns and dynamics of technological development and its links with science and the economic in national and international contexts.
