Sec. 503. Sense of Congress on National Science Foundation basic research investments
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Congress finds that— basic research investments support economic development and national security by— creating a base of scientific knowledge and understanding critical to innovation and to the creation of new industries and jobs; training and attracting a community of scientific and engineering experts; and enabling technological advances that can respond to intractable or unexpected societal or security challenges; established by Congress in 1950, the Foundation supports basic research activities in a wide range of fields, including the mathematical, physical, biological, geological, and social sciences, as well as in fundamental engineering; the Foundation's basic research investments have provided novel solutions to societal challenges and created the scientific and engineering knowledge important to commercial successes in areas such as fiber optics, DNA fingerprinting, barcode readers, and Internet browsers; the Foundation's investments in social, behavioral, and economic research have addressed challenges, including— in medicine, matching organ donors to patients, leading to a dramatic growth in paired kidney transplants; in policing, implementing predictive models that help to yield significant reductions in crime; in resource allocation, developing the theories underlying the Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction, which has generated over $60,000,000,000 in revenue; in disaster preparation and recovery, identifying barriers to effective disaster evacuation strategies; in national defense, assisting U.S. troops in cross-cultural communication and in identifying threats; and in areas such as economics, education, cybersecurity, transportation, and the national defense, supporting informed decisionmaking in foreign and domestic policy; through its research support, the Foundation has proven critical to the development of the Nation’s scientific and engineering workforce; having recognized the benefits of research investments to their economies and workforce, the Nation’s economic competitors have vastly increased their research efforts; and the economic benefits related to basic research investments tend to accrue within the region where the research is conducted.
It is the sense of Congress that— basic research investments across a wide range of disciplines are crucial to the Foundation’s mission and essential to the scientific progress of the Nation; the Foundation's basic research investments continue to support long-term national economic competitiveness by expanding the potential for practical innovations in science and technology and by attracting and training a knowledgeable workforce; the private sector's emphasis on investments in late applied research and product development relative to international competitors highlights the Foundation's critical role in funding for basic and early applied research; and if the United States is to remain innovative and globally competitive, the Foundation must continue to meet its legislative mandate through— robust support for basic research across a wide range of science and engineering fields, including the social, behavioral, and economic sciences; continued support for engagement between scientists, particularly through scientific conferences; and funding for the education and training of the U.S. scientific and technical workforce.