Issue Position: Research & Innovation

Issue Position

Research is our future. Massachusetts is a world leader in the research that produces new products and new industries - and creates the demand for new jobs at every stage. Research is the foundation for innovation and for economic growth. The breakthroughs of today - in science, technology, and engineering - lead to the success stories of tomorrow: discoveries that cure disease; innovations that reduce the cost of power; prosthetic limbs for wounded warriors.

The choice before us is whether we will invest in our future. Federal investment in R&D, as a percent of GDP, has plummeted over the last forty years. We need to invest in creating a Commonwealth and country that continue to lead the world in the research and innovations and that powers our economy across generations. Anything else is short-sighted.

Reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs was a good first step to keep up our research edge. But we must do more. We need to invest more in research, including in the National Institutes of Health. We need to support public education from Pre-K to technical training and universities. Twenty-first century innovations require an educated workforce, especially in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). We need to make it easier for entrepreneurs and start-ups to have lower capital costs, get their goods to market, and get their workers to their jobs by investing in fixing up our roads and bridges, extending mass transit and rail, updating water and sewage systems, and developing a 21st century power grid.

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