Role and Place of the US Corporate Sector in Formation of the Country’s Scientific and Technological Potential

Over the past several decades the corporate sector has become an undisputed leader in both research and development funding and the amount of spending thereof in the United States. The United States by themselves are the leaders in almost all the rankings of innovation capacity and science and technological potential. A great deal of attention was put towards the role of single corporations’ R&D on the country’s economic output. However, it remains largely unclear as to how the corporate sector R&D on its whole, influences the scientific and technological potential of the United States. Thus, the purpose of this study is to analyse the determinants of scientific and technological potential of the United States and to identify the ones which are provided by the corporate sector. To this aim, a multi-method research design was employed, including content analysis of the previous research on the topic and a broad range of data of the U.S. corporate sector output and the country’s economic performance. To analyse the role of the corporate sector in the United States scientific and technological potential, the correlation analysis was conducted using Excel. Our study confirms the existence of direct correlation between the corporate sector investment in R&D and the relevant output and the United States’ high-technology exports. Thus, the hypothesis about the direct influence of the U.S. corporate sector R&D has been validated.