STUDY EXAMINES MEASUREMENT OF SERVICE SECTOR R&D

摘要

The services sector in the United States-which includes everything from restaurants to telecommunications to banking-is a major driving force of the economy, generating about 80 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. As a result, tracking innovation in the services sector is an important indicator of future economic health. But a new joint research project of the NIST and the National Science Foundation (NSF) found that it has become progressively more difficult to classify the research and development (R&D) that fuels innovation in the services sector. "The distinction between the manufacturing and service sectors is becoming increasingly blurred," producing important impacts on the reporting of R&D activities, write Michael Gallaher and co-authors from RTI International of Research Triangle Park, N.C.