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In principle, scientific progress benefits everyone. And because it is for the public, it is largely funded by the public – with government investments yielding returns that extend far beyond any one country’s borders.
But from a geopolitical point of view, scientific progress is a highly competitive sphere of power and influence, one that the U.S. has dominated for decades. Last month, however, China's research spending surpassed America's for the first time.
According to Caroline Wagner, a public affairs scholar at The Ohio State University who has tracked China’s scientific rise, the consequences will extend far beyond publications and patents.
“A nation that hollows out its research base not only falls behind but also progressively loses its ability to benefit from science,” she writes, “including in technologies it is already able to access.”
Against the backdrop of China’s aggressive investments in science, the Trump administration’s research funding cuts have had many researchers mulling the end of U.S. dominance in science. Many, too, are looking to relocate to more scientifically favorable pastures.
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