Science, Philanthropy, and American Leadership

Investments in the US Science, Technology, Engineering, Medicine and Innovation (STEMI) enterprise come from many different sectors and their combined effect crucially enhances the nation’s competitiveness. Philanthropy is an under-appreciated component of this ecosystem, providing $21.5 billion of research funding at universities and non-profits in 2021 or roughly 42% of the federal outlay at these institutions. In this paper, we argue that these decentralized and diverse set of philanthropic funders alter the incentives and behavior within the US research enterprise to make it more risk tolerant and more innovative than government or business funding alone would yield. It also enables significant innovation in the development of human capital in STEMI areas. We conclude with a comparison of the US research ecosystem to that of China to understand how the two systems differ, with a particular emphasis on the differentiating role that philanthropy may play in influencing the scientific and economic competitiveness of each nation.