Profiting From Using Half: Is the US missing the boat?
06/03/07 09:47
Check out the performance of Wilder-Hill New Energy Global Innovation Index (NEX) vs. the S&P 500 over the past two years...
Hmmmm.... It appears energy saving and alternative energy businesses have outperformed the market. A great example of doing well by doing good.
However most of companies that make up the NEX index are NOT in the United States as the US investment environment is no longer as supportive of new technologies as historically.
The U.S. has led every technology wave for more than a century. Automobiles, radio, aircraft, semiconductors, TV & electronics, computers, biotechnology, and the internet. Each of these got boosts from carefully crafted incentives such as TV channel licensing, government contracts for computers, R&D tax credits, and the military & NASA played a huge role in aircraft and electronics development. Clean technology is being led by countries whose markets support clean technology: Europe, and, already, India and China. As a result, countries like Denmark lead in wind technology and China and India in solar.
Can the US catch up? Yes - but only if policy changes occur fairly quickly. We still have the best technology development and investment infrastructure in the world. Silicon Valley's venture capitalists like Vinod Khosla and Draper Fisher Jurvetson have become deeply involved. But the policies that subsidize questionable ethanol production will need to shift towards R&D credits that have accelerated technology development in the past.
However most of companies that make up the NEX index are NOT in the United States as the US investment environment is no longer as supportive of new technologies as historically.
The U.S. has led every technology wave for more than a century. Automobiles, radio, aircraft, semiconductors, TV & electronics, computers, biotechnology, and the internet. Each of these got boosts from carefully crafted incentives such as TV channel licensing, government contracts for computers, R&D tax credits, and the military & NASA played a huge role in aircraft and electronics development. Clean technology is being led by countries whose markets support clean technology: Europe, and, already, India and China. As a result, countries like Denmark lead in wind technology and China and India in solar.
Can the US catch up? Yes - but only if policy changes occur fairly quickly. We still have the best technology development and investment infrastructure in the world. Silicon Valley's venture capitalists like Vinod Khosla and Draper Fisher Jurvetson have become deeply involved. But the policies that subsidize questionable ethanol production will need to shift towards R&D credits that have accelerated technology development in the past.
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