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Narrator: New products and processes don't burst on the scene full grown.
They begin with basic research; they begin with the work of the bold.
The immaginative, the curious, whose discoveries and innovations eventually touch and
shape every aspect of our lives, drive our economy, and change our world.
The National Science Foundation supports the people and places at the frontiers of knowledge-
at thousands of institutions in every state in the nation-and we help turn promising ideas into jobs.
Major market leaders like Qualcomm and Symantec, were once tiny starters helped along
by NSF funding.
Gary Hendrix: And fortunately, the National Science Foundation came along at just the right
time and offered a grant for small business.
Qualcomm was very small when it received its first SBIR grant, I think in the order of
fifteen people or so, that helped us continue hand-grow and develop technology.
Well it meant the difference between starting and not starting, and it meant
everything in those early days. And now, today, it employs over 18,000 people.
We now employ something over 21,000 people.
And it all started with that little $25,000 grant.
And so these things have very large multiplier factors to them.
Researcher: NSF funded my basic research and now they are giving me funding to take that basic
research and commercialize it. We are now building out our team, so we are on our way.
Narrator: Today, the potential for new knowledge has never been greater.
Can we use nanoparticles to attack bacteria in our bodies?
Can we get pollution free energy from just water and light?
This could change the entire way we look at the problem.
Fundamental research can have real world impact.
Narrator: And keep us globally competitive. Clean energy, a clean environment, cybersecurity,
advanced manufacturing, science and engineering education-NSF is exciting young
minds, catalyzing talent for tomorrow.
Ideas that seem way out today, are ideas that public will take for granted tomorrow;
ideas that change everything.
Narrator: Not very long ago, two NSF funded graduate students created a page-rank method
based on web links. Today, we know their work as "Google".
We, the industry, relies very heavily on NSF to sponser those types of research that will put us
in the lead, not today necessarily, but five to ten years after.
What really causes economic growth is always innovation. So how do we get more of it? We
invest in basic research, and thats as simple as that.
Narrator: Only a steady focus on the furtheset frontier will spur discovery, create the industries
of tomorrow, and keep America the innovation nation.
We can understand our world
and use that knowledge to address pressing challenges.
Narrator: One world, one future, one NSF.