Obama's call for innovation follows slowdown in most sectors, scholars say

Google and the iPhone are American inventions. But the first mass-produced gas-electric hybrid car was made in Japan. And although the United States now fosters a nascent commercial space industry, if you want to speed from city to city on a smooth, fast train, you have to head to Europe. As for the world's largest solar energy generator, you won't find it in the American Southwest. It's planned for Morocco. Over the past decade or longer, US innovation stalled in almost every sector except information technology and agriculture, say scholars who study innovation. Federal figures and industry surveys support their assessment.