Washington — In order to bring about scientific breakthroughs that are yet undreamed, government must fund research that seeks to answer broad questions and not just narrowly focused projects where most of the work has already been done.
That was one of the key points that Harvard University President Drew Faust made during a talk she gave this week at an event meant to examine the role that institutions of higher learning play in innovation and making the economy stronger.
“We have to sustain the kinds of questioning that will have longer-term benefits,” Faust said.
As an example, she cited research investments made under the Nixon administration to fight the war against cancer. That research, she said, yielded knowledge about retroviruses, which has enabled scientists of today to combat AIDS.
“We didn’t know that’s what it was going to yield,” Faust said. “And if we had said, ‘Don’t look beyond the blinkered focus of the project for which you have asked for funding, we would greatly limit the long-term impact.”
Faust made her remarks Monday at the Center for American Progress during an event titled “Investing in the Future: Higher Education, Innovation, and American Competitiveness.”
The Ivy League university president share how her institution relies upon $700 million in federal research grants per year — money that has led to nearly 200 patent applications among faculty and the launch of ten business ventures. But the patents and business ventures represent only a small piece of the picture of how innovation is occurring on campus, Faust said.
