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Thread: In the early 1960s, R&D made up 10% of the US federal government budget. Programs like Apollo and ARPANET then spawned the rise of the integrated circuit and the internet, which have arguably changed our lives more than any other invention in the last 60 years. (1/n)
The government and public funding play an important role in innovation. This is true of not just these two areas but several others as this illustration from Ecliptic Capital shows (based on a National Academies of Sciences report and illustration) (2/n)
Today, while it's true that private capital makes up a bulk of total R&D spending, public/government funding plays a far more significant part early in the innovation pipeline (in other words, basic and applied research versus development). (3/n)
This matters. We're in a climate crisis and research productivity in the US has been falling for decades now. Lot of the low-hanging fruit may have already been discovered so the big innovations we need are screaming for the original VC more than ever - governments (4/n)
The US and China dwarf everyone else in terms of government R&D spending so we must encourage them and others to invest in R&D for climate-crucial areas like energy and agriculture that are today together getting about a third of what defense R&D spending gets. (5/n)
One of the solutions worth exploring may be cultivated meat (I also know a little more about this so I'm probably biased). Here's an article lifting the hood on where the industry is at and why it needs more government support. (6/n) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03448-1
While I'm on the subject, it's worth acknowledging that the entire world, and particularly parts of the developing world are not going to be awash in these high tech solutions anytime soon. (7/n)
There are parts of the world that will see 2-3 degrees of warming (and the associated negative impacts on agriculture) way before high tech solutions get to them. The equivalent variation chart below shows welfare effects at 3 degrees of warming (8/n)
Notably in South Asia and Africa, where agricultural sectors will take a 5-20+% hit in a warmer world, I hope the developed world can put R&D money aside to help these countries adapt their agricultural system to what may come. (9/n)
The focus could be on increasing yields, distribution, and education of crops that are more suited for warmer climates, with more variable precipitation patterns (like millet). Maybe all this can come out of bloated defense R&D budgets too. #lesstankmorebank
We need more..(10/n)
We need more..(10/n)
Sources:
- Ecliptic Capital and The National Academies Press ( https://www.nap.edu/download/13427 )
- Congressional Research Service ( https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45715.pdf)
- Bloom et al. (2020) - https://web.stanford.edu/~chadj/IdeaPF.pdf
- Moore et al. (2017) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01792-x
(11/11)
- Ecliptic Capital and The National Academies Press ( https://www.nap.edu/download/13427 )
- Congressional Research Service ( https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45715.pdf)
- Bloom et al. (2020) - https://web.stanford.edu/~chadj/IdeaPF.pdf
- Moore et al. (2017) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01792-x
(11/11)
