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.