Steven Chu says US must invest urgently in research and innovation to keep pace with China and other countries

The United States faces a "Sputnik moment" in the global clean energy race and risks falling far behind advances by China and other countries, the US energy secretary, Steven Chu, warned today.

Hours before the opening of the United Nations climate summit in Cancún, Chu said that the US urgently needed to invest in research and innovation – much as it responded to the Soviet Union's launch of the world's first space satellite in 1957 – if it wanted to remain a leader of innovation.

"We face a choice today. Are we going to continue America's innovation leadership or are we going to fall behind?" Chu said in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington.

Chu, a Nobel prize winner in physics, said his own career had been shaped by the orbit of that first space satellite. But, he said, over the last 15 years the US had steadily been losing ground to China and India in research and hi-tech manufacturing.

For the first time last year, the majority of US patents were awarded to inventors based outside America.

Meanwhile, China had emerged as the world's largest producer of wind and solar power, and was breaking ground on 30 new nuclear reactors. It now has the fastest high-speed trains in operation, with running speeds of 220mph.

Gao Guangsheng, a senior Chinese official for climate change policy, told a conference in California this month that China was gearing up for even bigger investment in clean energy technology in its next five-year plan.

Gao went on to tell the conference, which was hosted by California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, that China had reached its goal for wind power 10 years ahead of schedule.

"We set up a concrete conception of low carbon development," he said. But he doubted America could profit from China's example: "I am afraid China's experience of green development may not be useful for the United States because of different domestic situations."

Chu, however, in his speech today said the US could recapture its leadership position with investment in research and incentives for clean energy manufacturing.

"America still has the opportunity to lead in a world that essentially needs a new industrial revolution," he said. "But time is running out."

In his two years as energy secretary, Chu has served as Barack Obama's top salesman for clean energy technology, directing some $80bn (£51.3bn) of last year's economic recovery package to investment in advanced batteries, plug-in cars, and the smart grid.

He also touted the government's efforts to build research hubs for clean technology. "What I am trying to tell the American public is that this is an economic opportunity," he said. His comments echoed those of David Cameron at the weekend. Writing in the Observer, Cameron said: "I passionately believe that by recasting the argument for action on climate change away from the language of threats and punishments and into positive, profit-making terms, we can have a much wider impact."