6 Imperatives for Embarking on Grand Challenges

Key Insights

Federally supported, peer-reviewed, individual investigator-driven research has been the foundation of the academic research enterprise for more than 50 years.

But, with the brief exception of the funding from the stimulus legislation of 2009, federal non-defense R&D has not grown since 2004. In fact, federally funded university research expenditures were down by 7% from 2012 to 2015, and few expect federal funding to return to historic growth rates in the foreseeable future.

University research has reached the point in its cycle where changes in resources are forcing a fundamental change in activity.