U. S. needs to get back into basic research

Editorial

The United States is losing its edge. It is surrendering the research and development advantage that has fueled its economy for six decades.

China now performs more R& D than the United States, and South Korea and Germany have greater annual growth in R& D expenditures.

For all of Silicon Valley’s wealth and ability to innovate, it can’t maintain its technological edge unless the United States renews its once- strong commitment to funding basic scientific research.

Sen. Dick Durbin has the solution, but it faces rough sailing in Congress.

The Illinois Democrat on Monday outlined the American Innovation Act to increase funding for basic scientific research by 5 percent — $ 100 billion — over the next 10 years for five agencies: the National Science Foundation; the Department of Defense, Science and Technology Departments; the NASA Science Directorate; the National Institute of Standards and Technology Scientific and Technical Research; and the Department of Energy Office of Science.

Support for research should be a nonpartisan goal, but Durbin’s legislation would require ending the sequestration spending caps agreed to by Congress during the 2008 economic crisis. The GOP sees the caps as crucial to shrinking government spending and the deficit. But the deficit has shrunk precipitously since 2008, and R& D has a proven return for the economy.

Unlike private companies’ R& D results, the outcomes of publicly sponsored basic research are broadly available to entrepreneurs and growing companies. The advantage is exponentially greater.

The National Science Foundation, with a budget of $ 7 billion today, is the main source of federal support for research in mathematics and computer science. It receives about 40,000 grant applications a year but can only fund a quarter of them. The low funding compared to past allocations is reducing the chances of scientific breakthroughs, but there’s a more alarming result: It is discouraging brilliant young people from choosing careers in research, and if that continues, it will cripple our capacity to ever recover an edge.

China is pumping money into its universities and research programs. Since 2000, it has tripled its number of researchers, and it produces more students with science and engineering degrees than the United States. It is rapidly racking up patents.

While the $ 100 billion Durbin proposes would be significant, it represents a minuscule portion of the nation’s overall budget.

President Barack Obama understands all this.

“We know that the nation that goes all- in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow,” he said last year.

“This is an edge America cannot surrender. Federally funded research helped lead to the ideas behind Google and smartphones.”

China increased its research spending by 20 percent between 2001 and 2011. The United States is lagging in a race it can’t afford to lose.