Research, Discovery, and America’s Competitive Advantage

America’s competitive advantage is its leadership in scientific research, discovery and its application to technology and life sciences. Artificial intelligence and large language models may create a foundation for unique applications and innovative discoveries. Still, those only come from data derived from fundamental research and discovery that the US federal government subsidizes.

If the federal government should have a priority, it should be its investment in its people, knowledge, and research, and build a magnet for outstanding global talent to accelerate access and understanding of knowledge and its application to technological innovations.

The government’s role enhances fundamental research with no initial commercial or economic application. It is only when this foundation of knowledge and functionality is established that commercial and business models can be built upon it. The Internet, coming from DARPA research, is only one example. More frequently, fundamental scientific research into biomedical discovery and human health has led to a vibrant biotechnology industry and world-leading therapies and vaccines for some of the world’s most dangerous diseases.

Every technological, scientific, and medical breakthrough depends on a combination of basic or applied research and the key individuals who conduct that research. It also depends on facilities, materials, and equipment. These components create a unique combination in the United States that is a global competitive advantage. This combination forms the foundation of the most valuable industries, world-beating technology, and, more than anything else, America’s competitive advantage.

Shortsighted cuts without understanding all the expenses needed for fundamental research and demanding specific commercial applications when none exist would have denied some of the most profound breakthroughs in communications, networking, integrated circuit design, biotechnology, innovative therapies, etc. The list is far too expensive. But the point is that those with the chainsaws to government waste are only looking at one side of the ledger. Funding research is an investment, not an expense, to be packed away without thinking or understanding.

Extreme waste exists, and I applaud “following the money” to understand where expenditures go. However, a critical distinction must be made between expenditure and investment. America’s investment in intelligence, thoughtfulness, fundamental research, discovery, and openness to commercial applications of those discoveries has created a global advantage that will wither away with short-term, ill-conceived cost-cutting policies.