Think tank head warns of China's rise in innovation

The American head of a major nonprofit think tank has sounded an alarm about the United States' lack of investment in innovation and says the nation is losing its innovative edge to China.

Robert Atkinson, president of Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based public policy think tank that has ties to many of the largest IT companies in the US, also says China is quickly gaining ground in science and technology.

Atkinson's warnings come on the heels of worrisome data released by the National Science Board, which serves as an independent policy advisory body to US lawmakers. According to the Science and Engineering Indicators (SEI) 2010, the annual growth of research and development expenditures in the US was just over 5 percent, less than four times the growth rate of China, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.