Science and R&D

The United States is falling behind its global peers in funding university research, now ranking 27th in the OECD. To maintain global leadership and compete with countries like China, policymakers must reverse the dangerous cuts to university research.

The Trump administration’s “MFN” drug-price proposal would pose a far greater threat to U.S. biopharma innovation than the Inflation Reduction Act, because unlike the IRA’s selective list, MFN could apply across virtually every medicine, multiplying the deleterious impact.

As part of its deregulation efforts, the administration should clarify Bayh-Dole march-in rights; rescind NIH Access Planning Policy; rescind FRA two-person train crew requirements; clarify requirements for manually operated driving controls; protect America’s innovative clean-energy technologies; and streamline regulatory permitting for semiconductors.

Canada risks falling behind as a low-productivity, resource-based economy just as China rises as a global technology leader and U.S. protectionism grows. To help turn the ship of state toward a technology-driven economy, the government should take the simple but impactful step of giving Canadian industry more say in setting university research priorities.

Nations with businesses that spend more on R&D experience fewer firm closures. As such, policymakers should incentivize domestic businesses to invest more in R&D if they want to see industries succeed and grow, boosting the overall economy.

The higher education sector remains the leader in R&D investments for basic research. If the United States wants to stay ahead of China, it must invest more, not less, in basic and applied research to build the foundational knowledge needed for innovation.

To beat China, the United States must better align university research with critical technologies and ensure it directly supports the needs of American firms. To do that, federal research funding agencies should prioritize university researchers who have secured financial commitments from industry.

China is rapidly overtaking the U.S. in production across many advanced industries. If the United States wants to remain competitive and keep its market share in these industries, it must act now to incentivize R&D investment.

Policymakers should not attempt to reallocate innovative resources from large to small firms. Instead, Congress should pass the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 and expand the R&D tax credit. These measures will incentivize firms of all sizes to continue investing in productivity-enhancing and socially valuable R&D.

A report by the IMF indicates that rising government debt in advanced economies results in a decline in economic growth, particularly affecting industries that depend heavily on research and development (R&D), such as high-tech industries.