The Case for Both Basic Research and Entrepreneurship

The time is right for universities to undertake the internal changes necessary to create a culture supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship. These efforts cannot however come at the expense of basic research. The tension between basic research and the public expectation that research will impact the world’s biggest problems is another issue at the heart of effort to rebuild the partnership between higher education and the public. Applied research can be more easily explained and therefore can serve as a means of gaining political and financial support for research efforts. To achieve the cultural change required entrepreneurship must be defined broadly as a way of thinking, entrepreneurs must be integrated into the faculty and into the curriculum, and clear measures of success must be established and tracked carefully. All of this must be accomplished without compromising the values at the heart of American higher education.