Funding a Revolution Government Support for Computing Research (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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computer firms dominate the global marketplace, it is difficult to recall and acknowledge that the federal government has played a major role in launching and giving momentum to the computer revolution, which now takes pride of place among the nation's recent technological achievements. Federal funding not only financed development of most of the nation's early digital computers, but also has continued to enable breakthroughs in areas as wide ranging as computer time-sharing, the Internet, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality as the industry has matured.
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Many of these entrepreneurs had their early hands-on computer experience as graduate students conducting federally funded university research. As the computer revolution continues and private companies increasingly fund innovative activities, the federal government continues to play a major role, especially by funding research.
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First, it has promoted advances in fields such as computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and computer architecture: algorithms for rendering threedimensional graphics images, expert systems for assisting in drug design, and time-shared computing systems all derive from federally funded university research. Beyond these direct contributions to the technology base, federal funding for universities has had other benefits as well.
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In addition, most of the funding used by academic computer science and electrical engineering departments to purchase research equipment comes from federal agencies. By placing computing equipment in engineering schools and universities, the government has made possible hands-on learning experiences for countless young engineers and scientists and has enabled university researchers to continue their work.
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Furthermore, successful federal programs have tended to be organized in ways that accommodate the uncertainties in scientific and technological research. Support for computing research has come from a diversity of funding agencies; program managers have formulated projects broadly where possible, modifying them in response to preliminary results; and projects have fostered productive collaboration between universities and industry.
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Similarly, fundamental algorithms for shading three-dimensional graphics images, which were developed with defense funding in the 1960s, entered consumer products only in the l990s, though they were available in higher-performance machines much earlier. These algorithms are now used in a range of products in the health care, entertainment, and defense industries.
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decision to construct a packet-switched network (called the ARPANET) to link computers at its many contractor sites prompted considerable research on networking protocols and the design of packet switches and routers.
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In several cases, federal research funding has been important in advancing a technology to the point of commercialization after it was first explored in an industrial research laboratory. For example, IBM pioneered the concept of relational databases but did not commercialize the technology because of its perceived potential to compete with moreestablished IBM products.
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They have awarded numerous peer-review grants to individual researchers, especially in universities. NSF has also been active in supporting educational and research needs more broadly, awarding graduate student fellowships and providing funding for research equipment and infrastructure.
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They tended to lay down broad guidelines for new research areas and to draw specific project proposals from principal investigators, or researchers, in academic computer centers. This style of funding and management resulted in the government stimulating innovation with a light touch, allowing researchers room to pursue new avenues of inquiry.
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Innovation in computing requires the combined talents of university and industry researchers. Bringing them together has helped ensure that industry taps into new academic research and that university researchers understand the challenges facing industry.
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With the end of the Cold War and the globalization of industry, the U.S. computing industries need to maintain their high rates of innovation, and federal structures for managing computing research may need to change to ensure that they are appropriate for this new environment.
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NOTES A variety of other federal policies have shaped the computer industry and influenced computing research. These include enforcement of antitrust laws, patent policy and intellectual property protection more generally, and assistance in developing technical standards.
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