What MAGA does not understand about Trump's fight with research Universities
By cutting university research funding, we as a country are shooting ourselves in the foot. Impacting our ability to stay ahead in the sprint race of global economic growth and security.
In a Facebook post discussing the Trump Administration’s fight with Harvard, I started to realize that most Americans don’t seem to see the link between government funding to universities and how that creates the next cycle of growth for the US, many on the right only see a culture discussion.
I can say for myself, in college I was part of virtual reality research project in the early 90’s that also interfaced with students using NSF grants for machine vision. Today we see cars driving themselves with the results of that research after being developed through many universities and corporations to finally hit market.
I was also surprised to learn how many of those same folks are ok with corporate interests getting those funds but not universities, the benefits there are much less (lots of money going right to c-suite). When a university gets these funds it does a few things that can’t happen in the private sector:
grows the next workforce in an elastic environment
brings that workforce into the world after they have started implementing and testing new ideas at a low cost; think kickstart
that workforce often creates their own companies to continue that development, employing more and more people
in the end creating huge ROI for the US not only financial, but keeping us one of the lead innovators in the world and steps ahead economically and in security
It really is the backbone of what has made the US the leader in world and has allowed us to stay ahead as a country. It’s one of the main reasons so many foreign students come to America to study, many then stay and build some of the most well known companies in the world right here in America.
Let’s use an example of what we are on right now … the internet.
The Internet (ARPANET)
This is the backbone of almost all of what has made Silicon Valley is today. Think of the millions of jobs down to a single person running a small business out of their home that uses this innovation. All of the off shoots that peel off of this tool and the other millions working to support those uses. How it has changed our lives (for the better or worse) from having access to the world at our fingertips.
The return on investment (ROI) from the U.S. government’s early funding of internet research (through ARPANET and subsequent technologies) is immense. Calculating a precise ROI is difficult because it spans several decades but let’s try.
Initial Government Investment (1969-1970s):
The U.S. government (primarily through DARPA) invested an estimated $15 million to $20 million (in 1970s dollars) in the early research and development of ARPANET and related technologies at universities like UCLA, Stanford, MIT, and others to develop the foundational technologies for the internet. Adjusted for inflation, this would be roughly $100 million to $150 million in today's dollars.
Direct economic Impact of the Internet
The global digital economy was estimated to be worth $11.5 trillion in 2020, contributing around 15% to the world’s GDP or for every $1 invested by the U.S. government, there has been a $115,000 return in terms of the global digital economy (which still at this point runs off the US dollar as the trade currency)
In the U.S., the digital economy is also a major contributor. It was estimated at $2 trillion in 2020, representing about 10% of U.S. GDP or there has been a return of about $20,000 for every $1 invested by the U.S. government in direct U.S. digital economy impact.
Indirect economic Impact of the Internet
The internet has contributed to the creation of millions of jobs in the tech industry, as well as in sectors that rely on the internet (e-commerce, finance, communications, etc.).
For example, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft each employ hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
E-commerce alone generates trillions in annual sales and supports millions of jobs.
The internet has also transformed education, healthcare, and communication, improving the quality of life and making societal functions more efficient (with some downsides).
Additionally, the internet has driven productivity growth across virtually every industry by enabling faster communication, reducing transaction costs, and improving efficiency.
Impact of stopping research funding
Now think about stopping innovations like this, what happens to the US’s place in the global economy? What happens to our security? How do we keep ahead of our competitors and adversaries?
It’s plain and simple, we can’t.
Now expand this to all other areas that we as a country invest, like cancer. Turning off that funding, even for a short period of time could setback developments for decades. Also, what things have we’ve not even started to hear about yet? The developments like the internet that are just in their idea phase?
Is cutting this funding off really America First?