I would not use the patent system as a metric anymore. There are so many dubious and outright laughable patents. There is so much misuse of patents to (ironic

I would not use the patent system as a metric anymore. There are so many dubious and outright laughable patents. There is so much misuse of patents to (ironically) hamper real innovations in competitors. And so much important work is difficult to have any meaningful patent on, like software. Here are things that have caused a loss of innovation leadership. Lousy education. A ridiculous immigration policy. A tendency for companies to...outsource R&D, and generally take short-cuts on things that are important enough to not be half-assed in the name of "cost savings".