The United States is at a critical moment where innovation policy, national security and economic growth can no longer be treated as separate issues, according to a new book from MIT Press.
“Priority Technologies: Ensuring U.S. Security and Shared Prosperity” focuses on six areas the authors say will shape the country’s future competitiveness: semiconductors, biotechnology, critical minerals, drones, quantum computing and advanced manufacturing.
The central argument is that the United States still has deep scientific and technical strengths, but it has allowed too much production capacity to move overseas.
That has created vulnerabilities in supply chains, defense readiness and the broader economy. Reynolds says the selected technologies are “front and center” for U.S. economic and security policy, with opportunities for breakthroughs that could allow the country to leap ahead of global competitors.
The book points to semiconductors as a warning. Chips are essential to modern life, but much manufacturing has shifted away from the U.S. The pandemic-era chip shortage exposed how vulnerable the economy had become; one chapter notes that about one-third of inflation in 2021 stemmed from that shortage.
The book argues that rebuilding domestic chipmaking capacity is not simply an industrial goal, but a national security necessity.
A similar concern runs through the chapters on biotechnology, drones, critical minerals and quantum computing. The U.S. remains a leader in research, but often lacks the manufacturing infrastructure, supply chains or public investment needed to turn discoveries into resilient domestic industries.
The book also makes a case for universities as engines of national innovation. It highlights the long partnership between federal research funding and academic science, tracing it back to the post-World War II era.
The federal government has taken a leading role in supporting research and then becoming the first big customer for promising innovation, helping to pull the new technology towards commercialization, economic growth and new jobs.
However, the current Trump administration has tried to reduce or redirect federal support for university-based research, including research that can lead to innovation. But some of those actions have been blocked by courts or Congress. Although, the administration argues it is trying to focus research dollars on priority areas such as AI, quantum, biotechnology and national security.
The National Science Foundation, NSF, reports that the president’s FY 2026 budget request was $3.9 billion, far below NSF’s FY 2024 enacted budget of $9.06 billion.
The Association of American Universities said the administration proposed a 54% cut to NSF, warning it would weaken the nation’s ability to generate breakthroughs in fields such as biotech, information technology and AI.
The administration has also disrupted the NSF directly. This week President Trump dismissed the entire National Science Board, the independent body that oversees and advises NSF.
Critics said that move threatens independent scientific oversight, while the White House said NSF operations would continue.
Guests:
Elisabeth B. Reynolds is an MIT Professor of the Practice focused on systems of innovation, manufacturing and industrial competitiveness in the context of national and regional economic development.
Jesús del Alamo is a Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.
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