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The midcentury period of rapid growth in productivity and economic output in the US was supported by a remarkably well-coordinated R&D pipeline, with research universities specializing in basic science and large corporate R&D labs specializing in applied research and development aimed at commercializing scientific advances. But as corporate R&D investments became more narrowly focused on last-mile product development, universities continued to specialize in basic science, and the volume of pre-commercial applied research shrank. Many observers fear that the widening “valley of death” between early stage basic science and late stage product development may be swallowing promising scientific discoveries, contributing to the post-1970s slowdown of productivity growth in the US.

Many universities invest in programs aimed at filling this gap by facilitating applied R&D collaborations between academic scientists and industry partners. But we lack evidence about the efficacy of these programs, and about other university policies and practices that might encourage commercially viable innovation. Fostering more research partnerships with universities to develop, test, and implement more effective ways to incubate pre-commercial applied research could potentially accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation.

We also know little about the pathways through which funded university research contributes to scientific and technological innovation. Existing work focuses on the production of publications and patents by grant-funded principal investigators. But there may be other important pathways through which grant-funded research contributes to scientific and technological innovation. For example, the undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research staff trained through university-based research grants may be important contributors to scientific and technological innovation once they leave university campuses. Securing better estimates of the contributions of grant-funded students and early career researchers to scientific and technological innovation after they leave university campuses could enable the development of targeted interventions that accelerate those contributions.

Finally, we lack reliable evidence about cost-effective and scalable interventions that could be widely implemented on university campuses to increase and broaden opportunities in critical STEM fields. Expanding this evidence base and securing the implementation of effective interventions could potentially accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation.

Working with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are developing several initiatives aimed at accelerating the pace of scientific and technological innovation.

Accelerating Scientific and Technological Innovation

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