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A new PNAS Nexus Perspective proposes a “Discovery Compact”: a renewed agreement among government, scientists, industry and the public that treats scientific discovery as shared infrastructure rather than a short-term project. The plan would make long-term capacity, faster but rigorous funding, workforce support, translation and democratic accountability central to U.S. science policy.
What the Discovery Compact proposes
Sergio Carbajo, Asad Madni and Julia Powles set out the proposal in a PNAS Nexus Perspective published 13 October 2026. They argue that the United States needs to update the postwar social contract that helped build its research system. Their concern is not only whether a particular grant is funded, but whether the laboratories, facilities, people, data and institutions needed for discovery will still exist when society needs them.
“We propose the Discovery Compact, a renewed social contract among government, science, industry, and the public that treats discovery as shared public infrastructure—capacity a plural society builds, tends, and holds in common across generations,” the authors write.
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Under this view, scientific capacity includes national laboratories, research facilities, measurement systems, clinical networks, data resources, standards, talent pipelines and institutional memory. These assets often produce benefits that are broad, uncertain or delayed, making them difficult for private firms to finance alone.
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Why the authors say the existing system needs renewal
The Perspective identifies five mismatches between the postwar research model and current conditions:
- Speed: artificial intelligence, automated experimentation, biotechnology, advanced materials, quantum systems and semiconductors can develop faster than conventional proposal, appropriation, procurement and regulatory cycles.
- Convergence: major advances increasingly combine disciplines, facilities and forms of expertise that are separated by traditional funding structures.
- Talent: researchers, engineers, technicians, data stewards and other staff are essential to continuity, yet policy often treats them as temporary inputs rather than infrastructure.
- Institutional resilience: abrupt funding or policy disruption can dismantle capabilities that take years to rebuild.
- Legitimacy: scientific institutions must demonstrate accountability, integrity and broadly shared benefits, not rely on communication alone to maintain public trust.
The authors say restoring funding predictability is necessary but insufficient. They also call for skilled-immigration pathways, cross-training in ethics and the humanities, and a translation system that includes testbeds, standards, manufacturing capacity, regulatory routes and access to materials.
The five principles of the Discovery Compact
1. Sustain discovery as infrastructure
Funding would support capabilities over multiple years instead of focusing only on individual projects. Proposed safeguards include predictable multiyear commitments, transition plans when programs end and regular assessments of national capacity. The objective is to prevent an emergency from revealing that a critical facility, workforce or supply chain has already disappeared.
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2. Move at the speed of science without abandoning rigor
The proposal does not reject peer review. Instead, it argues that one review model should not govern every kind of research. Highly novel, convergent or time-sensitive work could use differentiated mechanisms, staged commitments and portfolio-level authority. The authors point to approaches associated with DARPA, ARPA-E and ARPA-H as examples of how mission-oriented programs can make faster decisions while retaining evaluation and accountability.
3. Build capacity through people, openness and mobility
Early-career researchers, staff scientists, engineers, technicians and data stewards are treated as core infrastructure. The authors recommend giving these groups a stronger role in advising programs and shaping research design. They also support international mobility, paired with proportionate safeguards for safety, research integrity and national security. Openness is presented as a capacity-building tool, not as an absolute that overrides legitimate protections.
4. Translate discovery without depleting its source
Foundational research and translation serve different purposes, and the proposal says they should not be forced into a single funding category. Bridge institutions could connect knowledge to use through shared testbeds, translational centers, regional consortia, standards organizations, public-private co-development and challenge-driven funding. These mechanisms are intended to move ideas toward products, services and public capabilities without stripping resources from basic discovery.
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5. Secure democratic legitimacy and institutional resilience
Scientific independence should coexist with anticipatory governance, public accountability and institutional integrity. Institutions need enough resilience to survive political change while remaining answerable to democratic oversight. In the authors’ framework, legitimacy depends on visible accountability, community participation, responsible conduct and benefits that are broadly shared—not on public-relations efforts alone.
Who would be responsible?
The Compact distributes duties rather than assigning the entire burden to government or researchers.
| Participant | Proposed responsibility |
|---|---|
| Government | Sustain capabilities whose benefits are broad, uncertain, delayed or difficult for private actors to capture. |
| Research institutions | Protect rigor, openness, integrity and intellectual risk while maintaining durable infrastructure. |
| Industry, mission agencies, philanthropy and public institutions | Build pathways from knowledge to useful applications and help support translation. |
| Researchers | Pursue excellence and accept responsibility for the social and institutional settings in which their work operates. |
| Democratic institutions | Provide oversight while protecting independent scientific assessment. |
| The public | Help define legitimate purposes, acceptable risks and what counts as shared value. |
What could change in practice
If adopted as a policy direction, the Compact would affect more than grant totals. Agencies could receive authority to use staged funding for uncertain, high-potential programs and to manage portfolios rather than judge every effort as an isolated project. Universities and laboratories could be evaluated partly on whether they preserve facilities, technical staff, data systems and succession pipelines.
Workforce policy would place greater emphasis on stable research careers, technical specialists and mobility across institutions and borders. Translation policy would fund the intermediate infrastructure—test facilities, standards, manufacturing and regulatory preparation—that is often missing between a promising result and a deployable application. Administrative processes would be expected to move faster where delay threatens time-sensitive work, while retaining safeguards for integrity and public accountability.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this only a U.S. proposal?
The argument starts in the United States because the postwar compact being revisited was forged there. The authors say the underlying tensions are global: openness versus security, autonomy versus accountability, mobility versus national competition, speed versus regulatory capacity, excellence versus inclusion, and innovation versus legitimacy.
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What the proposal is—and is not
The Perspective is a framework for discussion, not enacted law or a budget plan. It does not provide a single appropriation figure, a new federal agency or a detailed implementation schedule. Its contribution is to connect funding continuity, workforce policy, research governance, translation and public legitimacy into one account of scientific capacity.
The authors describe the next step as a national and international process rather than a finished legislative package: “This Perspective is not a legislative template but an invitation to a national and international process of protecting and renewing the institutions and infrastructure through which societies discover, generate, protect, and prepare.”
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