An improving housing market, resurgent manufacturing sector, increasing energy production, and technology leadership are all good things for the US looking ahead.
But not only did the Obama Administration not do anything to enable the technological breakthroughs that produced these results, it has actually fought increased oil and gas production every step of the way, and has continually threatened the fracking technology that has made the sharply increasing American production possible.
The only Scottish winner in the innovation category was Aberdeenshire-based Zenith Oilfield Technology for developing well surveillance equipment which has contributed significantly to increasing oil production worldwide.