Institute for Progress — March 2022 Update
Hello!
Hope you all have been enjoying the start of spring. It’s been another busy month here at the Institute for Progress. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
✍️ Published Work
Alec Stapp wrote a piece for City Journal about why SpaceX is an underrated strategic national asset and why an innovative contracting model from NASA deserves a lot of the credit.
Jeremy Neufeld published a deep-dive analysis on why STEM talent is critical to national security.
Key stat: “50% of the advanced degree holders working in the defense industrial base are foreign-born.”
Nikki Teran wrote a piece explaining why BARDA deserves more funding.
Nikki also wrote an analysis comparing the White House’s request for $65 billion in pandemic preparedness funding, but the Senate bill includes only about $2 billion.
📰 Media
Caleb Watney spoke with The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson about why immigration is even more important in the context of collapsing U.S. population growth.
“Immigration is a geopolitical cheat code for the U.S.,” says Caleb Watney, a co-founder of the Institute for Progress, a new think tank in Washington, D.C. “Want to supercharge science? Immigrants bring breakthroughs, patents, and Nobel Prizes in droves. Want to stay ahead of China? Immigrants drive progress in semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing. Want to make America more dynamic? Immigrants launch nearly 50 percent of U.S. billion-dollar start-ups. The rest of the world is begging international talent to come to their shores while we are slamming the door in their face.”
Dylan Matthews wrote an article for Future Perfect at Vox about pandemic preparedness funding and cited Nikki’s work.
“Nikki Teran, the senior biosecurity fellow at the Institute for Progress and a PhD geneticist, has been tracking the PREVENT Pandemics bill closely and helpfully put together a chart comparing spending levels in the bill to those in Biden’s pandemic prevention plan.”
Andrew Keighbaum interviewed Jeremy for his article in Bloomberg Law about the prospects of an American startup visa:
“‘Another administration, a court could also strike it down,’ said Jeremy Neufeld, a senior immigration fellow at the Institute for Progress. ‘A visa gives immigrants a lot more protections both for themselves and their business in the long-term.’”
🎤 Interviews & Events
Jeremy appeared on Tahmina Watson’s podcast to talk about immigrant entrepreneurship.
Caleb spoke about the importance of breaking down silos in science at the Assembly Forum hosted by the American Institute of Physics.
Alec went on the Tech Refactored podcast hosted by Gus Hurwitz at the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center.
Matt appeared on The Future Of… podcast to talk about the future of innovation.
Alec talked to Ben Yeoh on his podcast.
Nikki spoke on TV in Florida to talk about the PREVENT Pandemics Act.
Caleb went on the Urbane Cowboys podcast.
☀️ New Things Under the Sun by IFP Senior Fellow Matt Clancy
🏗️ Construction Physics by IFP Senior Fellow Brian Potter
👀 Progress Is Possible in DC (what we’re watching)
The Bipartisan Innovation Act (the bill formerly known as USICA which was formerly known as the Endless Frontier Act) is expected to enter the conference process in the next week or so. We will be carefully following along and trying to help shape what ends up in the final bill.
Jeremy’s recent analysis on international STEM talent shows how important Section 80303 from the House bill will be for U.S. competitiveness.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed the PREVENT Pandemics Act in a bipartisan vote of 20-2 that allows the measure to proceed to full Senate consideration.
While we applaud the efforts of the committee, and especially leadership on this issue from Senators Murray and Burr, the current version of the bill is woefully inadequate for actually preventing future pandemics.
👋 Tweet for the Road
