Universities at the Frontline of the Tech Race

This essay is part of my series The Innovative Imperative, which explores how innovation in education, research, and governance can strengthen our societies in the face of disruption. Today, I turn to the role of universities at the frontline of strategic competition.

Why Universities Matter in Strategic Competition

Strategic competition is no longer measured only in aircraft carriers, tariffs, or energy flows. Increasingly, it is measured in algorithms, quantum breakthroughs, resilient supply chains, and the speed with which nations can harness emerging technologies.

This competition will not be won in Washington or Beijing alone. It will be won in classrooms, laboratories, and university partnerships that prepare students for a technology-disrupted world and fuel the discoveries that power national resilience. In this sense, America’s universities are among its most decisive advantages — if we rise to the challenge.

What Must Change in Education

What is taught. Every student, no matter their major, needs fluency in the tools and implications of artificial intelligence, data science, quantum, and cybersecurity. Just as the industrial age required basic literacy in math and science, the digital age requires a baseline literacy in AI and its ethical, societal, and strategic impacts. These subjects should not be left to specialists — they belong across the curriculum.

How it is taught. A world in flux demands adaptive thinkers. Universities must break down silos and emphasize interdisciplinary, experiential learning. Students need to practice solving real-world problems where economics, ethics, and engineering collide. Project-based education, internships with technology-driven companies, and partnerships with civic institutions are not extras; they are essential training for resilience in disruption.

Who has access. Every student, not just the privileged few, must have access to AI tools, digital platforms, and the guidance to use them responsibly. Providing broad access to technology is as important as access to education itself. The gap between those with digital fluency and those without is the new opportunity divide — and closing it must be a priority.

How students are evaluated. Evaluation must keep pace with technology. Universities should move beyond rote memorization or formulaic assignments that AI can easily replicate. Instead, assessments should capture creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork — the qualities most valuable in a world of disruption. Faculty should be supported in designing evaluations that emphasize originality, ethical reasoning, and the responsible use of AI tools.

What Must Change in Research

Compute power. Many breakthroughs in AI and related fields depend not just on human ingenuity but on access to massive computational resources. If we want academic research to remain an engine of discovery, a check on concentrated power, and an incubator of tomorrow’s leading technology powerhouses, as they have been for today’s technology leaders, we must expand researcher access to compute — whether through national facilities, cloud credits, or new public-private partnerships.

Research priorities. Strategic competition demands a rebalancing of national research priorities. Universities must not abandon curiosity-driven science, pursuing knowledge for its own good, but they must also ensure that investments flow to areas where technology and national security intersect. AI safety, biotechnology, resilient supply chains, advanced materials, quantum encryption, and energy innovations that strengthen resilience are not only research frontiers but strategic imperatives.

Collaboration. Innovation accelerates when universities work hand-in-hand with entrepreneurs, start-ups, established industries, and universities in allied nations. The Cold War produced iconic collaborations — NASA with universities, DARPA with research centers, NSF with academic consortia — that underwrote both prosperity and security. Today’s challenges call for equally bold partnerships, with universities as trusted conveners and accelerators.

How Faculty Are Supported to Adapt

Faculty are the linchpin of transformation. To prepare students for a technology-disrupted world, they too must be equipped to adapt. Universities should create programs and incentives that help faculty:

• Rethink evaluation methods so they measure applied knowledge, creativity, and judgment rather than rote responses.
• Incorporate AI into student learning so students learn to use it responsibly, much as earlier generations learned to use calculators or lab equipment.
• Leverage AI in evaluation by streamlining routine grading, detecting originality issues, and freeing time for richer, personalized feedback.

Equally important, universities must help faculty and students address the risks of AI — bias, misinformation, and integrity challenges. Faculty should be trained to use AI as a tool that augments, not replaces, human judgment, ensuring technology strengthens learning rather than undermining it.

Supporting faculty in this transition is essential to supporting students.

Universities as a National Asset in Competition

In the wake of Sputnik, the United States invested heavily in education and research, creating the NSF, DARPA, and expanded federal student aid. Those investments fueled the breakthroughs that won the Cold War and sustained American leadership for decades.

We are again at such a moment. Strategic competition with China and other authoritarian powers will hinge on which nations can innovate fastest, scale talent deepest, and embed democratic values in the technologies that shape the century. Universities are central to all three.

Federal research funding has long been the fuel for America’s rise as the world’s leading innovator. Renewed investment is essential if universities are to continue driving breakthroughs that secure both prosperity and security.

But to succeed, universities must see themselves not as ivory towers but as frontline institutions in a contest for technological and societal leadership. They must mobilize as if national resilience depends on them — because it does.

A Call to Action

This is not just about preparing students to get jobs in a changing economy. It is about preparing them to lead lives of meaning and service in a world reshaped by technology. It is about ensuring that the knowledge they gain, the research they conduct, and the innovations they spark serve both their personal prosperity and the national good.

To prosper in a technology-disrupted world, and to prevail in strategic competition, America needs universities that:

• Educate every student in AI and digital literacy.
• Teach adaptively, across disciplines, through experiential problem-solving.
• Ensure broad access to technology tools and training.
• Provide researchers with the compute power and resources to make breakthroughs.
• Accelerate research toward areas where technology and national security intersect.
• Collaborate boldly with entrepreneurs, industry, and universities in allied nations.
• Equip faculty with the tools, training, and recognition to adapt.
• Attract and support the best and brightest talent, domestic and international, while ensuring every student feels welcomed and valued in contributing to discovery and leadership.

If we fail to adapt our universities, we risk falling behind in the very domains that will define leadership in this century. If we succeed, we will not only prepare our students to prosper — we will ensure our nation remains at the frontier of freedom, innovation, and opportunity.

Closing Thought

The ability of universities to adapt — in what they teach, how they evaluate, how they support faculty, how they attract talent, and how they partner — is not just an educational challenge. It is an innovative imperative. If we rise to it, we will equip our students to prosper in a technology-disrupted world and our nation to prevail in strategic competition.

In line with my belief that responsibly embracing AI is essential to both personal and national success, this piece was developed with the support of AI tools, though all arguments and conclusions are my own.