OECD tells governments to share knowledge, promote science

"The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2025 report warns that policies designed to protect sensitive research and prevent foreign interference are limiting humanity's ability to address shared challenges - from climate goals to health innovation. "The challenge is to strike the right balance between security, openness, and innovation," said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann. He conceded that too little security can expose sensitive research, while too much can stifle innovation and positive collaboration."

""Governments need to design measures that are proportional to the risks, well-targeted, and which enable mutually beneficial collaboration if they are to protect national interests without undermining research quality." Transformative change requires "ambitious" levels of investment over a long period, from exploratory fundamental research to the rollout and diffusion of tested technologies, the report says."

"R&D expenditure has grown in the last two decades, yet investment patterns indicate changing priorities across the 38 OECD member states (both developed and emerging economies). Spend targeting health-related objectives have declined steadily between 2020 and 2024 (after peaking due to COVID-19), while R&D support for energy and defense increased sharply over the same period by 51 percent and 17 percent respectively."

Policies that protect sensitive research and prevent foreign interference are limiting the ability to address shared global challenges such as climate goals and health innovation. Achieving the right balance between security, openness, and innovation is necessary because too little security exposes sensitive research while too much security stifles innovation and collaboration. Governments should design risk-proportional, well-targeted measures that enable mutually beneficial collaboration without undermining research quality. R&D spending has increased overall, but priorities shifted from health toward energy and defense between 2020 and 2024. Transformative change requires ambitious, long-term investment from basic research through technology diffusion.

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