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The
Importance of Funding Basic Research
February
2000
by Richard C. Levin
The
following essay was adapted from testimony delivered by President
Levin on September 22, 1999 to the Science and Technology Caucus
of the United States Senate.
In recent
decades, the U.S. economy has shifted away from such industries
as automobiles and steel, which
once served as its mainstay, and moved toward industries in which
competitive success depends on the commercial application of new
scientific knowledge, such as software, communications equipment,
and biotechnology. America leads the world in these growing industries,
largely because of investments in basic research made over a course
of decades.
Shortly after the Second
World War, the federal government began a program of unprecedented
investment in university-based, peer-reviewed research that ultimately
transformed the nation's economy and gave rise to most of the industries
in which U.S. companies excel. Sustained investment in basic research
has been, and remains, the single most important contribution of
government to the competitiveness of U.S. industry.
The fundamental research
undertaken in universities affects our industrial strength in two
ways -- by the flow of knowledge from university laboratories into
industrial use, and by the flow of scientists and engineers, trained
in universities undertaking cutting-edge research, into industrial employment. Today we are more aware than ever of the commercial
potential of university-based research, and we are creating within
our institutions smoother channels into the marketplace. Yale has
spawned 35 new companies in the past decade from work initiated
in laboratories on our campus; more than half of these are now contributing
to the economic development of greater New Haven. Moreover, an increasing
fraction of students with advanced degrees in science and engineering
are now seeking careers in industry, where they add to the creative
potential of the economy.
Because the commercial
implications of basic scientific discoveries are often unforeseen
and because the time lags are decades long, the private sector has
minimal incentive to invest in basic research. Companies allocate
no more than 5 or 6 percent of their total research and development
dollars to basic research, and they support only 10 percent of the
basic science done in universities. Thus, we must be concerned about
whether public investment, which supports two thirds of the basic
science done in universities, is adequate and sufficiently broad-based
to assure U.S. technological leadership in the decades ahead.
Among the government
agencies that support research, only the National Institutes of
Health and the National Science Foundation have kept pace with inflation
in recent years, and only the NIH has seen its funding keep pace
with the growth of the economy as a whole. The other agencies that
support basic research -- principally the Department of Defense,
the Department of Energy, and NASA -- have seen their budgets cut
markedly after adjusting for inflation. These agencies provide a
substantial share of the funding for basic research in the physical
sciences and engineering.
We may not feel the effects of funding cuts immediately, but we will surely feel them
in the decades ahead. Life-prolonging therapies making headlines
today, for example, are the end result of fundamental discoveries
in genetics made in university laboratories in the 1960s and 1970s.
Similarly, inventions in the physical sciences made three or four
decades ago, such as the laser, continue to find new and commercially
important applications even today. If real spending on basic research
in the physical sciences and engineering continues to decline, we
will see, slowly but surely, lower levels of innovation and competitiveness
in U.S. industry well into the next century.
Shrinking research
budgets also send a chilling message to younger investigators and
prospective graduate students,
who may be discouraged from starting risky careers in science and engineering. This would further shrink the knowledge base and talent
pool that U.S. industry needs to remain competitive over the long
term.
I strongly recommend
that Congress reverse the recent decline in funding for physics,
computer sciences, and engineering and ensure that public investment
in basic research keeps pace with our growing economy. There is
no more important step that we can take to secure the nation's future economic strength. 
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