Duke University president: The CHIPS Act was bold, but time is wasting | Opinion

As a young professor at N.C. State, Jim Goodnight teamed with colleagues in the mid-1970s to build software to analyze agricultural data. That team turned a good idea into a great one, spinning that innovation into a product line that birthed SAS, the Cary-based software giant that recorded $3 billion in sales last year and employs more than 12,000 people.

That’s the sort of success story we need more of in North Carolina, which is why the CHIPS and Science Act is so important.

The Tar Heel state and America are on the precipice of a transformational era for our research and innovation enterprise, spurred largely by the work of our research universities. The CHIPS and Science Act signed into law last year included a $52 billion boost to the semiconductor industry — a sector where N.C. companies are well positioned to create new jobs and boost the economy.

The act also provides $200 billion to strengthen the nation’s competitive advantage in other fields, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, energy sciences and bioengineering. This money has been approved but not yet distributed, and time is wasting.

North Carolina is well positioned to capitalize on this investment, but Congress must prioritize this funding in current and future budget cycles to ensure the U.S. stays ahead in the increasingly competitive race for global leadership in science and innovation.

Universities in N.C. are extraordinarily successful in winning research funding. Duke ranks ninth nationally in federal research funding and brings in about $776 million of the more than $2 billion of federal funds that support university research in our state each year. These dollars fuel discoveries that become solutions we all need.

The funding attracts and retains talent to our state, provides jobs and prosperity, and generates long-term and sustainable benefits when companies that are born here decide to stay here. In the last five years, Duke researchers have launched 75 companies around Duke intellectual property; 55 of them have stayed right here in North Carolina.

Building this economic engine doesn’t occur overnight — or even over a few years. It requires long-term and sustained investment and a highly trained workforce.

We face increasingly tough competition for talent as other countries, allies and adversaries, are substantially increasing investments in science and technology and other STEM fields. Full funding of the science portion of the CHIPS and Science Act will expand opportunities for North Carolina and the country to cultivate and retain homegrown talent and keep attracting the very best from across the globe.

One example of this is the National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Engines program, which seeks to build innovation capacity across the country. Duke is a partner on a proposal led by UNC-Wilmington to unite universities, community colleges, nonprofits and businesses to build and sustain coastal and climate resiliency in eastern North Carolina. This program has great promise to transform regions in North Carolina, and across the country. But NSF currently only has enough funding to support its current round of applicants.

Similarly, our Duke Quantum Center, in downtown Durham, is a major player in large-scale information processing, building ever-larger quantum computer systems. North Carolina could be well positioned to be a leader in quantum computing if the promise of CHIPS and Science is realized.

We’re ready for the next step.

Academic research and development is a federal partnership that has galvanized the state’s economy for more than 60 years and one that must remain robust if we want to continue that momentum. The CHIPS and Science Act will further catalyze North Carolina’s leadership in discovery-based research, but current projections show a $7 billion funding shortfall from the original spending targets. If not fully funded, we will see further stagnation of the nation’s economic growth, defense capabilities and global competitiveness.

If we want the great innovations to grow from our soil and benefit our citizens, we need Congress to start distributing the money it approved for use a year ago. Let’s create the next generation of innovators.

This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Duke University president: The CHIPS Act was bold, but time is wasting | Opinion."