U.S. investment in basic research in communications and other tec...

Center President Lawrence Spiwak told us: “Everyone is pretty much in agreement that basic research serves a very useful social goal -- the private sector isn’t going to invest in this stuff because it’s too expensive and there’s very little return… Our general recommendation is that if the government is going to spend all this money at the first stage [of research] maybe they need to think about policies at the second stage.” Among the Phoenix Center’s suggestions is increased government support for intermediate support after basic R&D is completed. The money could be directed through the government’s Advanced Technology Program or the Small Business Innovation Resource program, but other programs also could be used, the center said. Another possibility is changing tax credits for research. “Our research does show that the Valley of Death is a phenomenon that may, in fact, be a consequence of the U.S. Government focusing its R&D investment activities upon early-stage, basic research, with less attention paid to intermediate stage projects,” the paper said. Co-author Tom Koutsky of the Phoenix Center said: “It would be a mistake for government to largely limit its activity to basic research. Attention needs to be paid to intermediate stage, applied research or the government would see diminishing returns on the billions of dollars that it invests in R&D.”