Obama Talks to National Academies About Swine Flu, Investing 3 Percent of GDP in R&D

This morning, President Obama addressed the National Academies of Sciences, laying out the imperative for sustained government investment in scientific research. He said his administration would commit more funding to R&D than during the Apollo program (see Update below):

I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the Space Race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science. This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history.

He also took the opportunity to explain the necessity of such investment in grappling with matters like the current outbreak of swine flu:

But one thing is clear – our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community. And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind.

The renewed commitment to long-term science funding, building on the down payment in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will ensure a healthy economy and populace in the years to come.

Here’s a look at the past three decades of federal R&D support in terms of GDP, as well as the full audio from the President’s remarks:

Here’s the full audio of the speech, as offered by the NAS:

Update: The 3 percent of GDP investment in R&D that Obama touted would include federal and private investment, a point this post originally confused. Here’s an explanation from our former colleague Rick Weiss about the necessary government investment to reach that goal:

Obama pledged to raise the country’s R&D budget to 3% of the national gross domestic product from today’s nearly 2.7% — an increase of roughly $46 billion annually. The government currently picks up about one third of the tab. Assuming that trend continues, public funding would need to increase by about $15 billion annually, says Rick Weiss, a spokesman for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Image: AP/Gerald Herbert

Tags: funding, public health

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