Innovators need to think of the United States as a developing country

Yesterday, I attended a discussion with Peter Thiel, organized by Stanford University students. Peter said that to maintain economic growth in the long-run,  it is good for an economy to grow intensively,  by improvements in technology. He also said that we need to think of the United States as a developing country rather than as a developed country when it comes to innovation. The level of technological innovation is actually less today compared to the 1930s when bulk of innovation started happening. I thought that was an interesting way to think about the US. For example, when it comes it clean energy and sustainable development we are a developing country and need to start from scratch.