Washington, DC – Deeply concerned about major federal budget cuts to research and higher education at a time when other nations are steadily increasing investments in those areas, 165 university presidents and chancellors today called on leaders in Washington to close what they call the “innovation deficit.” In an open letter to President Obama and Congress published as an advertisement in Politico, the university leaders wrote that closing the innovation deficit – the widening gap between needed and actual investments in research and education – must be a national imperative.

Hunter R. Rawlings III, President of the Association of American Universities (AAU), and Peter McPherson, President of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), whose organizations coordinated the letter, joined the university presidents and chancellors in signing it. The higher education leaders, whose schools are members of AAU and APLU, noted that investments in those areas lead to the types of innovation and new technologies that power the nation’s economy, create jobs, improve health, and strengthen national security, ensuring that the U.S. maintains its role as global leader.

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