Dear Senators Gardner and Peters:
We appreciate the opportunity to provide input to the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation as it considers reauthorization of the COMPETES Act. The Science Coalition is an organization of more than 60 of the nation’s leading public and private research universities dedicated to sustaining the federal government’s investment in basic scientific research as a means to stimulate the economy, spur innovation and drive America’s global competitiveness. As the authorizing vehicle for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, the COMPETES Act serves a vital role in enhancing and sustaining America’s scientific and technological leadership.
You have asked for input on a series of questions; we have focused our comments on topics related to the following two questions:
- How can the federal government best structure, coordinate, and/or prioritize its R&D investment portfolio to provide predictability for research initiatives, facilitate the discovery of new knowledge, drive lasting economic growth, and address critical emerging challenges?
- How can the results and value of federally-funded research be better communicated across the research community and to the private sector and general population?