The United States is falling behind its international competitors, and funding for innovation in business has hit a 12-year low.

That was the assessment by Richard A. Bendis, founder and CEO of Innovation America in Philadelphia, who cautioned an audience at St. John Fisher College on Friday that Switzerland and South Korea are among the countries overtaking the U.S. in innovation.

Bendis was the keynote speaker for the economic development conference called Eyes on the Future, which drew more than 1,400 people to the college in Pittsford.

Speaker[Bendis] tells 1,400 to be innovators