Biophysical Society Bulletin | June 2021

Public Affairs

have access to scientific knowledge when balancing and ad- vancing the interests of the nation. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to immerse myself in this endeavor as a BPS Congressional Fellow.” Olender will spend a year working in a congressional office on legislative and policy areas requiring scientific input. He will also participate in the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science’s Science and Technology Fellowship Program, which includes an orientation on congressional and executive branch operations and a year-long seminar series on issues related to science policy. Read more about the Con- gressional Fellowship: www.biophysics.org/policy-advocacy/ congressional-fellowship. Around theWorld Indonesia Creates National Research “Superagency” In early April, the Indonesian Parliament approved a pro- posal to eliminate the Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) in favor of creating a new National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Although details have not been released, BRIN seems set to have broad powers to fund, exe- cute, and control research in the country. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has often criticized the Indonesian scientific community for what he says is lacklus- ter performance, deeming the country’s $1.7 billion annual research budget enough to produce results. Widodo has also been critical of the large number of research agencies scat- tered around the national bureaucracy and provincial govern- ments across the archipelago. Scientists worry this move will only serve to strengthen political control over research in a country where academic freedom is already under pressure and politics have taken an authoritarian turn. The Center for Innovation Policy and Governance hopes that BRIN’s power still can be limited by making it responsible only for coordinating and carrying out research, while making another agency responsible for policy. Reforms in Indonesian research policy come at a time when the country needs solid science more than ever. France Ponders Biomedical Research Decline At the end of January, France’s third wave of the pandem- ic gathered steam while the Pasteur Institute and Sanofi announced more setbacks in COVID-19 vaccine development. Today, France remains the only nation on the U.N. Security

Council without a viable vaccine. These high-profile failures have cast a spotlight on the problems facing biomedicine in France. Some experts cite a squeeze in basic research funding and scarce venture capital, while others place blame on a pro- liferation of bureaucratic organizations that waste resources and add confusion. A January study by the Council of Economic Analysis (CAE), a government advisory body, says France ought to be well-po- sitioned to do biomedical research—and to commercialize it—but recent analyses paint a picture of long-term erosion in public biomedical investment. The CAE study found that public spending on biology and health research has shrunk dramatically since 2011, even as it grew in Germany and the United Kingdom. Biotech startups, critical in pharmaceutical innovation, are also less well funded in France than in its European peers. Funding through France’s public investment bank (BPI) and tax rebates can be generous in the early stages of business development, but private funding is too sparse to enable enough companies to grow significantly at later stages. In 2020, French health tech startups each raised only €8 million in venture capital on average, compared with €12 million in the United Kingdom and €25 million in Germany. Changes are coming. The French government pledged to reverse what it calls “decades of underinvestment” with a 10-year plan and reform enacted in December 2020. The plan aims to raise R&D spending from 2.2% to 3.0% of gross domestic product, in line with Germany’s, increasing pub- lic spending from €15 billion to €20 billion by 2030. It also intends to make research careers more attractive by boost- ing meager salaries and creating junior tenure track jobs. In addition, the government induced a group of insurance companies and semipublic institutions to pledge €6 billion in tech investment in France through 33 funds, 9 of which are dedicated to health. Many scientists hope, cautiously, that the COVID-19 wake- up call will bring lasting improvements that can be sustained long-term.

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