In his State of the Union address in January 2006, President Bush stated that innovation focusing on science and technology was important to keep and strengthen the country's international competitiveness. As its background, there are many political suggestions from private organizations. Among them, "Innovate America," which has attracted widespread attention from the time it was announced, and "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," which was said to have had a big influence on the State of the Union address of this time, are introduced here.

"Innovate America"

 The "National Innovation Initiative," promoted by Council on Competitiveness of the U.S., announced a report in December 2004, after discussions made for 15 months by the top 400 people in industry, university, and government. It is called the "Palmisano Report" after Samuel J. Palmisano （Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of IBM Corporation） who served the chair. With the decline in the number of foreign students studying in the U.S. and the number of American students who study science and engineering, and the long-term decrease in the federal government's investment on research as its background, there is a sense of crisis in the U.S. that, although the U.S. still has superiority over other countries at present, the difference has been getting smaller and the U.S. may not be coping with the quality and changing speed of recent innovations. Based on the recognition that innovation is the biggest sole driving force for the U.S. to continue in the 21st century to develop and grow, proposals were made on the three fields of talent, investment, and infrastructure, in particular.

"Rising Above the Gathering Storm"

 The report was announced in October 2005 by the "Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century" （Chair: Norman R. Augustine, Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation）. This committee consists of 20 leaders from industry, university, and government and was established by the National Academies. In response to the question of the members of the United States Senate Committee on Energy ＆ Natural Resources, this report was made about the measures that the persons in charge of making policies in the federal government should take and the strategies to put the measures into practice to enforce science and technology activities for the U.S. to be successful in competition, prosperity, and safety in the international society in the 21st century. The report insists that, although the U.S. has been a world leader in economy and strategy since the end of World War Ⅱ, it has been losing its strength recently in the fields of market and science and technology, and comprehensive and immediate measures are necessary. It is considering China and India as competitors. Its concrete proposals are （1） vast improvement in K-12 science and mathematics education, （2） strengthening science and engineering research, （3） improvement in higher education of science and engineering, and （4） improvement of the innovation environment.