Research outsourcing and US

The United States is the king of the hill in science and research but there are growing concerns that it might lose its competitive edge by outsourcing jobs which are on the bleeding edge of research to countries like India and China.A recent Pratt School of Engineering survey led by tech entrepreneur and Professor Vivek Wadhwa asked 78 senior executives of US firms questions about their experiences in offshoring engineering jobs. The report confirmed that outsourcing had indeed gained momentum. “Jobs are going to India, China and Mexico. A wide variety of jobs are being offshore including analysis, design, development, testing, maintenance and support,” Wadhwa told while sharing the key findings of the report. “At least 75 per cent of US firms say that India has an adequate to large supply of entry level engineers — even more than in the US and China,” said Wadhwa. He said private firms in India were willing to get around a talent crunch by hiring raw engineers with shaky education and polishing them up in their own facilities till they came up to snuff.American political and business leaders who were raising the alarm about a shortage of engineers, and saying the US needed to compete with India and China in graduation rates and teach more math and science to children to get them up to speed were missing the woods for the trees.