Investment in optics and photonics has provided a remarkable return to society and created technology that is integral to modern life. As a community, we support an industry growing faster than worldwide GDP, creating $350B in revenue that underpins a $2.5 trillion annual market in photonics-enabled products worldwide.
This success is not serendipitous, but the result of judicious and sustained private and public investment in research, development, engineering, and manufacturing. Public research and development (R&D) directly supported many breakthroughs and technologies that have resulted in products and services that are important, and in some cases, critical elements of modern civilization.
Today, in the US, this public investment is under attack. This is a dire national problem, but with profound global implications because of the international collaborations that accelerate innovation. Under the guise of eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse” federally supported science and engineering activities that are objectively beneficial, trustworthy, and supported by the public are being eliminated and degraded at federal laboratories and universities throughout the US.
Prioritizing the expenditure of taxpayer receipts and ensuring responsible use of such funds is an important role of government and public policy. Arbitrary and uninformed cuts to R&D programs justified with misleading or false narratives disregard this responsibility, and the ensuing degradation of our valuable scientific enterprise will cause both immediate and long-term damage to our economy, security, health, and well-being.
We must act before it is too late.
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