“Underneath this umbrella of flexibility, America has a myriad of institutional strengths. It starts with a network of research universities, which spin off a steady stream of competitive experiments, innovations, and scientific breakthroughs - from mathematics to biology to physics to chemisty. "Our university system is the best," said Bill Gates. "We fund our universities to do a lot of research and that is an amazing thing. High-IQ people come here, and we allow them to innovate and turn [their innovations] into products. We reward risk taking. Our university system is competitive and experimental. They can try out different approaches."”
