In April 2022, Congress passed an annual spending package that makes critical investments in research.
Four months later, President Biden signed into law the $280-billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022—the most significant piece of legislation in support of science in decades (CHIPS stands for “Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors”).
This legislation is designed to revitalize the US scientific research and technology development ecosystem—and every American will benefit from the improvements that future breakthroughs made possible by this historic investment.
It’s a major step in the right direction—but it’s not enough.
Now is the time to encourage more funding for basic research to provide the best investments for future technology.
When the 118th Congress convenes in January, US lawmakers must seize on the momentum of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 and double down on science and innovation. Pennies pinched now could cost us trillions later.
It will be 75 years in January since Bell Labs physicist William Shockley invented the junction transistor, which replaced the need for vacuum tubes and mechanical relays. (Soon after, transistors were replaced by integrated circuits and then microchips—which are themselves CPUs, or microprocessing units.)
Hailed as the single greatest invention of the 20th century, the junction transistor gave rise to small computers in the 1960s. Today, one person with a word processor can do what 30 people did with typewriters in the 1950s. Workers have the ability to make instant corrections and print out endless originals, without the need for carbon copies.
With their ability to store, access, calculate, analyze, determine relationships, and make predictions, these devices have been the single greatest advancement in human productivity. Despite concerns at the time, these inventions did not result in massive unemployment. In fact, just the opposite occurred, and the standard of living of the entire nation rose as a result.
Global sales of microchips reached nearly $556 billion last year. But it is a mere fraction of the actual value of the devices they go into, such as automobiles, cameras, televisions, GPS equipment, smartphones, and even hotel door locks.
A small investment on behalf of the taxpayer in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1960s produced the internet, valued at $2.45 trillion just last year. In another dividend on this investment, DARPA miniaturized GPS technology in the 1980s at the request of the US Marine Corps, and now we all reap the benefits.
Direct federal research support made possible the development of each of the more than 350 drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration over the last decade—including more effective medications and treatments for hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, and cancer.
Given the incredible gains in quality of life and economic prosperity that resulted, the funding that goes into supporting scientific research is better characterized as an investment rather than a cost. For example, studies documented the massive and ongoing return on investment of the Human Genome Project, which cost about $3 billion.
Investments in science and innovation are a down payment on our future. A 5 percent investment of the federal budget is reasonable and prudent to continue advancing science—particularly in medicine, laying the groundwork to prepare for future pandemics and avoid catastrophic loss of life. However, this amount is far more than our country is investing right now. Several countries around the world, including South Korea and Israel, invest far more than the United States in science as a percentage of their economies.
Now is the time to encourage more funding for basic research to provide the best investments for future technology—lest we leave the next transistor on the table, or worse, someone else invents it and reaps the rewards.