Science in the Service of Society

To increase the speed and impact of knowledge creation, the United States must radically restructure research funding and resources away from big names—and toward our biggest questions.Read More

To transform US research labs to better serve society, we need to bring in a new type of scientist who specializes in scientific operations.Read More

More inclusive open science can help solve society’s most pressing problems—and at a faster pace—but making it mainstream requires systemic institutional change.Read More

Attempts to reduce poverty through technical innovation and income redistribution have fallen short, but the right mix of programs could succeed in overcoming persistent poverty—and unleash productivity growth.Read More

As California’s environmental initiatives demonstrate, states can complement the federal role in generating science-informed legislation that addresses local problems while providing a model for national and international policies.Read More

How collaborative open-source software development increased the velocity of problem-solving in cloud computing—and what that suggests for innovation policy.Read More

Solving complex problems is never a purely technical or scientific matter. Interdisciplinary awareness is essential to ensure that taxpayer-funded policy and research are efficient and equitable and are accountable to citizens at large—including members of traditionally marginalized communities.Read More