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6 Understanding the Research Enterprise as a Complex System
Pages 99-118

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From page 99...
... These measures might include, for example, indicators of human and knowledge capital, indicators of the flow of knowledge in specific fields of science, indicators with which to track the flow of foreign research talent, portfolio analyses of federal research investments by field of science, international benchmarking of research performance, and mea sures of research reproducibility. The committee's findings reveal that the pathways from research to innovation are multiple, diffuse, and interconnected.
From page 100...
... To understand how these pillars interact to produce research discoveries, one must also understand how knowledge flows among domestic and global networks of individuals and institutions; how research is influenced by the availability of scientific infrastructure, funds, and other resources; how the quality, including the usefulness, of research discoveries is affected by management, research environments, institutions, and peer review; and how all of these aspects interrelate. These topics are not well understood and need to be addressed with future research.
From page 101...
... UNDERSTANDING THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE AS A COMPLEX SYSTEM 101 standing, the role of failure must be properly valued. As discussed in Chapter 4, scientific research projects that fail to achieve their original objective nonetheless play extremely valuable roles in the overall research system by providing important training experiences, by contributing to the stock of scientific knowledge, and by redirecting research in what ultimately may be transformative directions.
From page 102...
... The key to an understanding of the innovation system is how knowledge is used effectively to produce new technologies and other innovations of economic value. SUPPORTING THE THREE PILLARS OF THE RESEARCH SYSTEM With a more nuanced understanding of the system of research, government can enhance the public returns on its research investments through policies that address the system's three pillars: a talented and interconnected workforce, adequate and dependable resources, and world-class basic research in all major areas of science.
From page 103...
... A large body of empirical and theoretical economic literature has linked innovation activity, including the absorption of technologies discovered elsewhere, to the levels (Benhabib and Spiegel, 2005) or the composition (Manca, 2011; Vandenbusche et al., 2006)
From page 104...
... research institutions and firms, which can be affected by such variables as the research environment and immigration policies. The STEM Workforce American research universities differ from the centralized university systems in many other nations.
From page 105...
... Indicators could be generated, for example, to track the flow of knowledge in specific fields of science. In addition, indicators of STEM labor mobility could help answer questions about the career progression of scientific researchers and recent STEM graduates by following the movement of individual researchers to posts in industry, government, and academia.
From page 106...
... Policies that help maintain the predictability and stability of federal research funding can boost the infusion of talent into the U.S. research enterprise by encouraging students to pursue STEM careers and discouraging established researchers from leaving their careers.
From page 107...
... The original printer used an ultravio let laser to solidify each layer of photopolymer, and it demonstrated that complex objects could be manufactured in a matter of hours. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, 3D Systems had established collaborations with academic researchers in North Carolina to create synthetic human organs.
From page 108...
... : In 1985, NSF began sponsoring ERCs at universities across prise, encompassing all fields of science, over the long term. International benchmarking has the potential to reveal scientific areas pursued elsewhere that may not be adequately supported in the United States (National Academy of Sciences, 2000)
From page 109...
... The ERCs provide a forum for industry to collaborate with faculty and graduate and undergraduate students on the commercial advancement of technolo gies in the focus areas of manufacturing, biotechnology and health care, energy/sustainability/infrastructure, and microelectronics/sensing/informa tion technology. •  ederal Small Business Innovation Research Program (budget request, F FY 2013: 2.8 percent of agency's extramural R&D budget)
From page 110...
... But the human capital pipeline also may be destabilized by unexpected surges in research funding, which attract more students to pursue graduate studies in a given field, lead senior faculty to open up more postdoctoral fellowships, and in some cases lead university administrators to support hiring of additional junior faculty. Funding upswings that are followed by cuts or even extended periods of flat growth in inflation-adjusted funding are especially disruptive in this context, and have the potential to degrade the efficiency of both the training and research supported by federal funds.
From page 111...
... The wide swings in funding depicted in the figure indi cate the magnitude of funding instability experienced by this key federal supporter of U.S. academic research during the past 20 years.
From page 112...
... Performance Measures for Portfolio Management Science must be managed not only through particular programs but also through portfolios of programs, some of which may entail research directed toward a particular national goal. Performance measures, whether based on research outputs, such as publications or patents, or on progress toward a particular goal, can be useful for managing programs within a portfolio.
From page 113...
... As we have noted, however, no agency, office, or committee within the Executive Branch or Congress systematically monitors the breadth of federal research investments across disciplines and scientific fields in ways that can support the goal of balance and sustainability of the overall scientific research enterprise. Some recent policy experiments in developing portfolio analyses of federal research investments in specific fields have recently been launched.
From page 114...
... In particular, awareness of scientific discoveries may travel quickly, but sufficient understanding to extend them or to apply them for the development of new technologies or other innovations often requires that the nation's researchers possess considerable fundamental knowledge derived from diverse basic research. Third, cultivating a system of world-class basic research attracts students and scholars from around the world to the United States.
From page 115...
... These data allow scholars, students, and policy makers to draw compari sons between the United States and other societies. According to the NORC Web site,*
From page 116...
... . International benchmarking makes it possible to track research performance, recognize niche areas in which each nation excels, and identify strengths and weaknesses as a means of improving the quality and impact 2  See http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/guirr/index.htm [August 2014]
From page 117...
... research performance relative to that of other nations: (1) the intellectual quality of researchers and the ability to attract talented researchers; (2)
From page 118...
... 118 FURTHERING AMERICA'S RESEARCH ENTERPRISE CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS Together, the three pillars described in this chapter interact to drive the performance of the research and innovation systems. But how best to support these pillars requires further research and the development of improved measures.


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