On the recordJune 11, 2013
As you have talked about--and I know on other occasions--what are the investments we need to make today, not just in physical infrastructure, but in other things that will lead to the next generation of employment? The United States' comparative advantage in the world has always been that we make these investments into the next generation of research whether it's through the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy. Do you know what? Sometimes it doesn't always work out, but sometimes it does. When it does, we create new areas of the economy that can expand and grow just like the human genome that has led to billions and billions and billions of dollars in private investment. Here, I think, is the important point for a lot of Americans who probably already know we collectively as a society make investments in the research that no one company can make on its own, this basic research that costs tens of millions, if not billions, of dollars over many, many, many years that no company could come in and reap the profits of immediately. We collectively say that we're going to make that together and then let the companies come in, pull out what they want, and take it to the private market, get investors, and off we go.…
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