How basic research can repair the broken U.S. business model
Apollo program engaged at its peak, 400,000 people
R&D Troubles in the U.S.
calling for the equivalent of a Manhattan and Apollo Projects
IBM, Microsoft, Dupont
“more R&D is going on globally”
“Discovery drives innovation, innovation drives productivity, productivity drives economic growth.”
“Much of the best technical talent has been drawn to the promise of riches from Wall Street and financial engineering. “
“We need to reestablish a culture that rewards and celebrates the scientist who is willing to work on tough problems even if the commercial return is less certain. Given that the U.S. economy is so much bigger than it was 40 years ago, and so much less competitive internationally, 10 or more equivalent corporate research labs are needed for critical mass. The most likely candidates are the top research corporations today—IBM, Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Google, Exxon Mobil XOM, DuPont, Microsoft, Apple, 3M MMM, General Electric, Boeing BA, and others. Many of these companies already have hundreds of PhD researchers and scientists on staff, and while their labs mostly focus on shorter-term development goals, they still retain the spirit of scientific pursuit.”
“TAX INCENTIVES COULD HELP
Consider that the Bell Labs budget peaked at $1.6 billion in 1982 (about $3.6 billion in today’s dollars), and $20 billion would fund, say, three large labs and five smaller ones. Split in some ratio between public and private sources, $20 billion is not a large number. As noted earlier, IBM, Microsoft, and HP already spend $17 billion annually on R&D. If leading companies committed 5% to 10% of those R&D budgets to pure research (up from 0% to 5% today), in exchange for a tax credit or a government match, a new innovation ecosystem would quickly begin to build critical mass. From the government’s perspective, the money put toward innovation today is the highest-return investment it can make.”
