Academic Research is Key to a Strong Economy Say Bipartisan Group of US Senators. (December 23, 2005)

Innovation trio. From left, Senators Joseph Lieberman, George Allen (R-VA), and John Ensign unveil legislation. Science Photo: Kerry Arnot

Legislation, introduced last week by a bipartisan group of senators in the US Congress, The National Innovation Act of 2005, would nearly double the [National Science Foundation] NSF budget, now US$5.5 billion, by 2011. The Legislation is sponsored  by Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and John Ensign (R-NV).

Fourteen senators have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, S.2109, which closely tracks recommendations made 1 year ago by a blue-ribbon panel of business and academic leaders assembled by the Council on Competitiveness.

According to Science the legislation "would nearly double the NSF budget, now $5.5 billion, by 2011. It would create hundreds of new graduate fellowships, encourage all federal agencies to invest in high-risk research, and revise the tax code to promote more industrial spending on research. It recommends federal investment in advanced manufacturing, regional economic development, health care, and defense technologies. It would also create an interagency Council on Innovation to evaluate all relevant legislative initiatives."

Senator Lieberman said in a media briefing, "Whenever I meet with industry, they tell me that supporting university-based research is the single most important thing that we could do to bolster U.S. competitiveness; it's the raw material from which they innovate."

The man and his machine …   Brendan Nelson likes to take to the   highways for relaxation from politics.   SMH Photo: Robert Pearce

Meanwhile, three of the bill's co-sponsors were meeting with President George W. Bush to discuss a similar piece of legislation aimed at bolstering U.S. scientific prowess being prepared by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN). That bill is expected to conform to an October report by the US National Academies' National Research Council which issued a dire warning to Congress: Give science an extra US$10 billion annually, or watch jobs and national status disappear to Asia.

A spokesperson for the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 research-intensive US and Canadian universities, told Science the legislation "reflects a consensus among the nation's business and academic communities concerning actions we must take to ensure our future global competitiveness and our national security."

Mind you all that swing won't mean a thing unless Congress appropriates significant funding to support the rhetoric. A 2002 law called for a 5-year doubling of NSF's budget, but Congress actually cut the NSF budget last year and gave it only a small increase this year.

However, Senator Lieberman says, "There's a new sense of urgency and a new level of understanding about the importance of university-based research. I think we can do it."

Not to worry, Australia's Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, MP in addition to putting the pedal to the metal has the matters of his portfolio well under control having the universities in a head scissors while peeling off a few riffs on his Fender Stratocaster 50th anniversary, or the Fender 60s facsimile or perhaps even his Yamaha RGX1212.

Dr Nelson is "learning to play guitar." Well, after all, Nero did have a harp to pluck.