According to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the U.S. is losing ground to emerging market countries such as China, India and Brazil as the world's center of innovation on medical technology advancements. While this can certainly be viewed as a threat to the American R&D community, I see it more as a trigger -- and an opportunity to spur the U.S. med-tech community to new heights.

According to the PwC research, which quantified five factors using 86 different metrics, the U.S. is still solidly in place as the world innovation leader in the medical technology field with a total score of 7.1 on a scale of 1 to 9. The scores of other developed nations (Germany, U.K., Japan and France) fell within a narrow band with scores ranging from 4.8 to 5.4. Meanwhile, emerging market entrants such as China, India and Brazil clock in with scores of 3.4, 2.7 and 2.7, respectively. The five factors examined by PwC, according to a Wall St. Journal article, are price incentives, resources for innovation, a supporting regulatory system, patient demand and price sensitivity and a supportive investment community.

Senior executives expend much effort into grooming their directors and managers and keeping them satisfied in their jobs with the aim of retaining their key people. The operative word here is people. According to a new paper from PricewaterhouseCoopers, it may be smarter to shift the focus to pivotal roles. People in pivotal roles are the ones that have the most direct impact on customer satisfaction. The roles different in every organization, and they're not necessarily high-profile.

In a Q&A in the current edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers's quarterly Technology Forecast, EMC Corp. CIO Sanjay Mirchandani shares his views on how the cloud is accelerating the repositioning of IT to support business development and innovation. Cloud computing, the self-described "career businessperson" tells PwC, is enabling IT to be more responsive to the business. At EMC, members of the IT team are responsible for running core integration projects, "and they're seen as subject matter experts."

In a Q&A in the current edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers's quarterly Technology Forecast, EMC Corp. CIO Sanjay Mirchandani shares his views on how the cloud is accelerating the repositioning of IT to support business development and innovation. Cloud computing, the self-described "career businessperson" tells PwC, is enabling IT to be more responsive to the business. At EMC, members of the IT team are responsible for running core integration projects, "and they're seen as subject matter experts."

As we know, companies are expecting more value-added contributions from CIOs than ever. Meeting these expectations doesn't have to mean reinventing the wheel. They needn't overthink how they can metamorphose into strategy gurus as thoughts of being replaced taunt them from the far reaches of their consciousness. In fact, in many ways, opportunities to demonstrate strategic leadership exist in their current organizations, according to a feature in the new issue of PricewaterhouseCoopers's quarterly journal, Technology Forecast. By recognizing the deficiencies in practices that have long been taken for granted and introducing a new value-creating framework, IT chiefs can reinvent not only the way their organizations do business; they can recreate their own roles and how they are perceived.

It's time for CIOs to take control of their fate -- that is, when it comes to enterprise transformation. That's according to the current issue of Technology Forecast journal from PricewaterhouseCoopers.