The Endless Frontier: The Next 75 Years in Science

The National Academy of Sciences hosted a symposium on February 26, 2020, that gathered top business, academic, and government leaders to explore whether the modern research architecture that fuels U.S. innovation needs to be reconfigured to meet the challenges of our time. The event was held in partnership with The Kavli Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of Vannevar Bush's seminal report Science, the Endless Frontier, which created a blueprint for U.S. scientific research in the post-World War II era. Bush's report empowered government support for innovation and basic research at the nation's universities and the policies that ultimately drove U.S. prosperity, health, and national security. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion at the symposium focused on the future of pathways to leadership in science, how to respond to changes in the research enterprise, science and the public, the evolution of the government-university partnership, and connecting basic research with economic growth in the decades to come.