Foundation of the Public/Private Postwar Framework for Financing Scientific Research

Visionary policy-makers were well aware of the role that technological innovation played in winning the war, no one more so than Vannevar Bush, the former MIT Dean of Engineering who headed the federal government’s World War II initiatives to mobilize America’s scientific and technological capacity. As that conflict wound down, these policymakers turned their attention from winning the war to enjoying the peace. In 1945, following a request from President Roosevelt, Bush presented a report to Congress that was later published as Science: The Endless Frontier. In this report, Bush linked government support of basic science to the goal of stimulating the economy; the then-recent experience of the Great Depression made this a paramount concern, as many policy-makers were concerned that once the wartime stimulus was removed, the economy might sink back into recession, or worse. Bush failed to see his clear-eyed vision of one uniform, civilian-controlled federal agency to fund all federally supported research (including all military and non-military applications) enacted. Yet Bush’s primary goal — promoting basic scientific research through policies including federal government funding — was accepted and soon led to the formation of agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). More than any other thinker, Bush is responsible for laying the foundation of the modern public/private partnership that continues to be the dominant American model for funding basic scientific research. Sustained government support for science education and research remains a key pillar of Bayh-Dole’s success in promoting technology transfer.