Federal Funding Supports the Flow of Innovation

As politicians weigh proposals that call for steep cuts to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health, we spoke with someone who can answer the question more precisely than most. The latest in a long-running National Academies series, it explores the many ways that research innovations become impactful commercial activities. The so-called "tire track report series" dates back to 1995, when the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board produced the report Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure. Can you describe how that effort got started and how it has continued to evolve? Current times are fairly unique, but there has always been this myth in Congress: "Look at Silicon Valley, look at all these tech companies that got started in a garage. Why do we need to fund computer science research? This is a self-sufficient thing."