science & engineering
Science and engineering drives technological progress that leads to improvement in our quality of life. At the core, productivity megatrends – energy savings, mobile computing & networked society, minimally invasive surgery, precision medicine, automation etc – are dependent on innovations by small number of companies with foundation in elemental sciences.
For example, social media apps are only possible with the availability of data communication network powered by high performance semiconductors, fabricated with advanced materials from companies with material science & precision chemistry background.
While there has been an expansive list of companies involved in technology applications such as e-commerce and video streamings, the reverse is true for suppliers of advanced semiconductor process materials.
Reasons for the depleting rank of companies with deep engineering capabilities in the world today:
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Resources channeled to financial rather than real engineering over past 30 years -
Technological disruptions -
Steep scientific curves prohibit new entrants -
Scientific limits of existing systems