FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Massachusetts Institute of Technology President L. Rafael Reif appeared recently on CBS This Morning to discuss the university's latest innovations and the importance of federal funding for university research.
Reif told host Charlie Rose that the United States "has the best innovation ecosystem in the world." He warned, however, that support from the federal government for basic research - the "mother of all innovation" - has been eroding year by year for the last ten years or more.
"At MIT and places like MIT you can actually see the future, " he said. "But it's not clear that that future will actually happen" without government support.
"The fact that I see that we are closer and closer to a cure for Alzheimer's, that does not guarantee that it will move to the marketplace," Reif said.
To hear more of the interview, watch the video of President Reif's appearance on CBS This Morning.