Thread by @innovationwonk

I can smell bold, aspirational thinking wafting through the DC air.

Truth is, govt has always been a visionary trailblazer, market shaper, and innovation catalyst. It’s time to channel that to solve climate change, pandemic prevention, curing all known diseases + more. Brief 🧵

1. @NSF, through the vision set by @CIA and others, funded a project that created Google google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1…

2. @DARPA provided the leadership and early funding & coordination for ARPAnet that set the foundation for the internet

3. @NIH has supported the underpinning research and development of nearly every FDA-approved drug in the last few decades pnas.org/content/115/10…

4. Since 2013 and before, @NIH, @DARPA, and @BARDA, have funded efforts to commercialize mRNA vaccine technology, which has proved in 2020 to be a pandemic crusher. drugdiscoverytrends.com/how-u-s-govern…

5. @ENERGY, @NSF @DARPA, @NASA all helped set in motion the renewal of the electric vehicle industry (note EVs were invented a century ago, before gas-powered ones) with early, high-risk investments in energy storage and computing pewtrusts.org/-/media/assets…

6. On its way to send Americans on the moon 50 years ago, @NASA helped create #solar technology, modern imaging technology, and much more, with spillovers in every aspect of our lives, even baby formula nasa.gov/offices/oct/fe…

7. Federally-funded US R&D universities continue to attract the world’s best talent and drive economic growth here and abroad

8. @SBIR - America’s Seed Fund, has provided some of the riskiest capital to high-growth startups in energy, education, health, defense, and other fields, resulting in >70k patents, 700 public companies & $41B in follow-on VC funding sbir.gov/birth-and-hist…

9. @BARDA, in its short 15 year existence, has funded the development of now 57 FDA licensures for vaccines and drugs to combat flu and other pandemic pathogens, including the first two Ebola therapies. medicalcountermeasures.gov/barda/fdaappro…

Just about every innovation involved a collaboration btw public & private sectors.

When academia, govt, industry & the entrepreneurial spirit across US + world partner, we are unstoppable.

The list of problems we need to solve is vast, but collectively no match for us.

This is going to require investments in #DeepTech for the future (as past federal investments in AI, materials science, genetic engineering are paying off now). @DifferentFunds insightfully lays out some thoughts differentfunds.com/research/deept…

Ultimately, we must also broaden our view of the kind of problems we can and should solve, as @DARPA director Arati Prabhakar articulately lays out issues.org/realm-of-the-b…

There’s no time to waste. People today and future generations are counting on us.