The National Science Board has released its 2008 Science and Engineering Indicators report and it looks like the U.S. has some work to do.

According to a Computing Research Policy Blog review of the report,  Asia is drawing away science and engineeering activities from the U.S., the feds are leaving two thirds of U.S. R&D funding to industry and 40% of the public thinks there is not enough federal funding of basic research. On the bright side, most foreign-born Ph.D. candidates in the U.S. plan to stay here and the U.S. is maintaining its share of high tech manufacturing.

The board made three broad recommendations:

* The feds need to step up their level of funding for basic research

* Industry and academia need to communicate better

* The government needs to get a handle on what the globalization of tech research means to the U.S.

Here's a summary of the indicators from the NSF and a link to the looong report itself.