To Truly Build Back Better, the US Must Create New R&D Consortia

As competitive pressures mount in areas like wireless technology, digital epidemiology, and supply chain design, international collaboration is critical to the US’s success

The global, rapidly evolving nature of COVID-19 has put international collaboration to the test—with mixed results. On the one hand, we saw unprecedented data and knowledge sharing, powerful public–private partnerships, and accelerated vaccine development. On the other, the pandemic exposed real deficits in collaboration, with, for instance, the World Health Organization warning early last year that vaccine nationalism is leading to “catastrophic moral failure.”

The successes and failures of the past two years underscore the same conclusions: that societal progress and economic security depend on scientific innovation—and that collaboration is critical to plans to “build back better” and maintain national well-being in our global, high-tech era.