Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/17873
n n n n Business Doctoral Degrees in Natural Sciences and Engineering 1996–2007 (in thousands) 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 US total US foreign China Japan US citizen Germany UK South Korea Slow Going t The 2009 recession changes the rules, resulting in slow market growth for CAD By Kathleen Maher he CAD arena is among the most recession-sensitive markets in the world. Te archi- tectural sector feels good and bad news early, as regions build up their infrastructures, people move to new areas for jobs, and money dries up for loans. In fact, the architec- ture and construction industries have been feeling the effects of the recession considerably before it hit the pocketbooks of people living in the US and Western Europe. And, recovery is coming slowly. Recently, McGraw-Hill published its “Top 400 Contractors” survey and reports, and to no one’s surprise, the building industries remain challenged. In fact, most recent numbers for June show that US construction is down in the second half of 2010. Fortunately, there is growth in transportation and power, with the promise of coming growth in manufacture- related building and infrastructure projects. Manufacturing, which is heavily influenced by consumer markets, is more responsive to the vagaries of the economy, and it responds faster to both good news and bad news. Te overall CAD market dropped an unprecedented 23 percent in 2009 to levels lower than 2008, and for some companies, something closer to 2007 figures. Tis year, the picture has begun to get brighter. Remarkably, and contrary to expectations, CAD vendors are re- bounding in 2010. Manufacturing is coming back as consumers find their wallets, but this is going to be a cautious growth in the West. Te European Union is nervous that its weaker members—most notably Greece at the moment (but also Spain, Portugal, and Italy)—will dampen Europe’s economic standing and will slow growth. In the US, there have been signs of a faster recovery as stimulus money has been put to work on long-range infrastructure 40 August/September 2010