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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (57495)	2/2/2010 2:29:19 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 219850

See how knowledge can change in a matter of less than 2 decades. Huge shift in Brics’ scientific landscape By Clive Cookson Published: January 26 2010 02:00 \| Last updated: January 26 2010 02:00 Just 20 years ago, on the eve of the Soviet Union's disintegration, Russia was a scientific superpower, carrying out more research than China, India and Brazil combined. Since then it has been left behind not only by the world-beating growth of Chinese science but also by India and Brazil. Huge changes in the world's scientific landscape are revealed in an analysis of the output of the four Bric countries since 1981, carried out for the FT by Thomson Reuters, which indexes papers from 10,500 research journals worldwide. The figures show not only the "awe-inspiring" expansion of Chinese science but also a very powerful performance by Brazil, much slower growth in India and relative decline in Russia. According to James Wilsdon, science policy director at the Royal Society in London, three main factors are driving Chinese research. First is the government's enormous investment, with funding increases far above the rate of inflation, at all levels of the system from schools to postgraduate research. Second is the organised flow of knowledge from basic science to commercial applications. Third is the efficient and flexible way in which China is tapping the expertise of its extensive scientific diaspora in north America and Europe, tempting back mid-career scientists with deals that allow them to spend part of the year working in the west and part in China. Although the statistics measure papers in peer reviewed journals that pass a threshold of respectability, "the quality [in China] is still rather mixed", says Jonathan Adams, research evaluation director at Thomson Reuters. But it is improving, he adds: "They have some pretty good incentives to produce higher quality research in future." FT series: Building Brics FT In depth: As the world emerges from recession, will the centre of gravity in the global economy shift to Brazil, Russia, India and China? Like China, India has a large diaspora - and many scientifically trained NRIs (non-resident Indians) are returning, but they go mainly into business rather research. "In India there is a very poor connection between high-tech companies and the local research base," says Mr Wilsdon. "Even the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the highest level institutions in the system, find it difficult to recruit top faculty." A symptom of this is the poor performance of India in international comparisons of university standards. The 2009 Asian University Rankings, prepared by the higher education consultancy QS , shows the top Indian institution to be IIT Bombay at number 30; 10 universities in China and Hong Kong are higher. Part of India's academic problem may be the way red tape ties up its universities, says Ben Sowter, head of the QS intelligence unit. Another issue is that the best institutions are so overwhelmed with applications from would-be students and faculty within India that they do not cultivate the international outlook essential for world-class universities. In contrast to China, India and Russia, whose research strengths tend to be in the physical sciences, chemistry and engineering, Brazil stands out in health, life sciences, agriculture and environmental research. Russia produced fewer research papers than Brazil or India in 2008. "The issue is the huge reduction in funding for research and development in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union," says Mr Adams. "Although there has been an exodus of many of the rising stars of research, there is still a great pool of talent there. "It is not in the interests of the rest of the world for the exodus to continue, and we need more co-funding arrangements to help Russian research get back up to speed." Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools.