There is a belief held by some individuals that private corporations should be in charge and execute scientific research instead of leaving it to the governments. Despite some obvious advantages to this trend, I would argue that these are outweighed by the disadvantages.
On the one hand, private enterprises have more freedom and faster procedures to allocate resources for research. Since a research project just needs to go through a few rounds of examination before getting approved by the board of directors, the process will be much quicker compared to the one from the government. Therefore, producing much faster results that can make a huge difference when solving urgent issues. For example, private pharmaceutical companies were able to create vaccines to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in just a short time, which might take years if it is government research.
On the other hand, there are several benefits when letting the government carry out and manage scientific research. Firstly, government research is often conducted to improve the life of humanity or solve social issues without focusing on the revenue. Government research will mostly be non-profit because their main goal is for the betterment of life and the more people can access it the better, so the impact on society will be bigger. For instance, research to tackle environmental concerns is conducted with no profit, but it helps to improve citizens’ lives. Secondly, people tend to have more trust when the research is carried out by the government. Due to the strict examination process, government research would be more accurate and reliable.
To conclude, while allowing private enterprises to manage and conduct scientific research will lead to a faster result, the advantages of placing these responsibilities in the government’s hands are more beneficial for society.