Title page 1

Contents 2

KEY TAKEAWAYS 1

INTRODUCTION 3

U.S. SCIENCE AND RESEARCH POLICY: 1945 TO THE PRESENT 5

LIMITATIONS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM 6

Too Much Science, Too Little Engineering and Technology 7

Too Much Focus on Basic Research 7

Research Related to National Power Industries 9

Too Little Industry Involvement 10

Too Little Long-Term Funding 12

CRAFTING A NEW FEDERAL STEM RESEARCH MODEL 12

More Funding 12

Target Increased Funding at National Economic Power Industry Needs 13

Less Open Internationally, Especially to the Chinese 14

More Focused Specialization With Scale 14

More Funding of Mid-Level TRL Research 15

Increase Industry Involvement 16

More Industry-Focused Graduate Programs 17

Harness AI to Transform, Not Just Optimize, Scientific Discovery 18

More Tracking of China's Efforts 18

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN'T RELY ON INTEREST GROUPS FOR CHANGE 19

CONCLUSION 20

ENDNOTES 21

Figure 1. Industrial power scale 4

Figure 2. NASA Technology Readiness Levels 8

Figure 3. Share of national government R&D expenditures focused on industrial technology 10

Figure 4. U.S. federal R&D funding as a share of GDP, 1960-2023 13

Boxes 4

Box 1. Defining National Economic Power Industries 4

Box 2. The American vs. Chinese STEM Research Model 10

Box 3. Denmark's Industrial Ph.D. Program 17