Earlier this month, the world finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest were held in San Antonio. Here’s a breakdown of the top 38 schools by country:
8 from Russia
6 from China
5 from Canada
3 from Korea
2 from [4 other countries]
1 from [8 other countries*]
* - including the US
(for complete results go here)

For the computer science (CS) field here in the US, the picture ain’t pretty – which explains why Business Week is waving A Red Flag in the Brain Game. Here’s the gist of the article:
In 2000, 3.7% of college freshmen surveyed planned to major in CS. Then the dot-com bubble burst, and off-shoring started gaining steam. New students, fearing they’d lose a job in programming to cheap labor in India or China, begin migrating away from CS studies. Today, CS has an image problem – a 2005 survey of freshmen showed that just 1.1% intend to pursue a CS major. To make matters worse, US employers can no longer rely on foreign talent to take up the slack. Immigration policies beefed up after 9/11 have limited the number of foreign students who can stay following graduation, and growing economies in their home countries are drawing away many of those who could stay.

Why is the US really losing ground in the global CS field? Here’s one theory (from the article): “It’s not that foreign students are any smarter, say U.S. university leaders. They just have relentless discipline.” Nicholas M. Donofrio, executive vice-president for innovation and technology at IBM, has noticed the same thing I’ve seen in many of the Indians I’ve met: “You can see the passion in their eyes. They’re people on a mission.”

Maybe the threat from these fast-growing Eastern economies hasn’t been taken totally seriously because of the American economy’s reputation for strength in creativity and innovation. Until recently, the knock on technical talent from India and China has been that they haven’t demonstrated such mental processes. That may change sooner than later. Thomas Friedman recently wrote in this NY Times column that China and India are working hard to inspire more creativity in their math and science students.

Some of that inspiration may already be kicking in for the folks in India. As I mentioned in this post, Tara Hunt heard better ideas at BarCampBangalore than any she’s heard at similar US events.

Friedman’s The World is Flat included words of warning from tech entrepreneurs in India and China:

“Is America prepared [for the flat world]? It is not . . . You’ve gotten a little contented and slow, and the [technical talent pool from India, China, etc.] are really hungry. Immigrants are always hungry – and they don’t have a backup plan.”
- P.V. Kannan, CEO of 24/7 Customer

“Americans don’t realize the challenge [from China] to the extent that they should.”
- Win Liu, director of U.S./EU projects for DHC, a software firm in Dalian (the so-called “Bangalore of China”)

I recall the wise words of Louis Pasteur: “Fortune favors the prepared mind.”