Hoover InstitutionStanford University
Innovation Nation: Sustaining America’s R&D Leadership

Published April 28, 2025

America’s leadership in science and technology has long fueled both economic prosperity and national defense. But with adversaries like China dramatically increasing R&D investments, the United States faces the urgent challenge of reversing its own decades-long decline in innovation funding and coordination. Reclaiming leadership will require a renewed national strategy: one that recommits to federal investment in foundational science, restores the synergy between government, academia, and industry, and rebuilds the workforce and infrastructure needed to drive discovery. Sustaining America’s competitive edge in emerging technologies is not just an economic imperative — it is a cornerstone of national security.

 

Check out more about America's R&D Leadership:

  • Read "How to Create, and Sustain, R&D Leadership" by Norbert Holtkamp here.
  • Read "A Deep Peek into DeepSeek AI’s Talent and Implications for US Innovation" by Amy Zegart here.
  • Read "The Warfighter’s Pipeline" by Dan Berkenstock here.

Learn more about Norbert Holtkamp here.

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The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University.

© 2025 by the Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University.

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Norbert Holtkamp

Norbert Holtkamp

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