Event Summary

On October 8, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar joined AEI’s Chris Miller for a conversation about how the federal government can increase the United States’ research and development (R&D) capabilities across the public and private sectors. The discussion focused on how the past several decades have seen federal R&D dollars remain relatively steady while our gross domestic product has grown and our manufacturing capabilities have been outsourced. Dr. Prabhakar set forth how the Biden administration has attempted to address the lag in manufacturing capability and R&D expenditures in the name of national security and improved American health outcomes.

Subsequently, AEI’s James Pethokoukis led a conversation about how to find the right level of R&D investments and how this might move federal dollars away from basic research toward more discrete efforts. The panel discussed the history of federal R&D approaches and how the current moment potentially calls for a more proactive approach in some instances while attempting to retain the legacy and basic research approach that has worked in the past. The event concluded with an audience Q&A.