Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) offers the following comments to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in response to the Request for Information on Accelerating the American Scientific Enterprise. These recommendations are drawn from CSET’s wide body of research, based on CSET’s mission to provide decisionmakers with data-driven analysis on the security implications of emerging technologies.
As the RFI rightly recognizes, the strength of the American scientific enterprise is tightly linked to U.S. national security, economic competitiveness, and the country’s ability to generate innovative solutions to pressing challenges. To achieve this goal, the private sector, researchers, and academic institutions must be positioned within the most robust innovation ecosystem possible. This environment has historically been advanced through a complementary model: federal investment in basic research and university systems, shared infrastructure, policy coordination, and prioritization creates the conditions under which private actors can effectively develop, scale, and commercialize new technologies.
Our response addresses three critical areas in which sustained federal support builds and maintains a foundation that allows for private innovation:
- Generating the cumulative scientific knowledge that leads to commercializable technologies;
- Investing in the infrastructure that supports innovation hubs; and
- Providing the basis for effective public–private partnerships.
Together, prioritizing United States Government (USG) support and investment for each of these functions can ensure that private-sector innovation is more productive, scalable, and aligned with national interests and policy goals.