Basic Science, Innovation, and Policy

This chapter examines the growing tension between the global nature of scientific knowledge and the rising tide of research securitization driven by geopolitical competition. Drawing on expert perspectives from a panel convening government, laboratory, academy, and research council leaders alongside a Nobel laureate, and complemented by a systematic literature review, the analysis identifies four mechanisms governing collaboration persistence and decline: institutional autonomy through risk-based frameworks, crisis urgency overriding political constraints, network redundancy via multilateral pathways, and the divergent outcomes of gradual versus abrupt trust erosion. Comparative institutional analysis of CERN, SESAME, the Arctic Council, and the International Space Station reveals design principles that distinguish resilient from fragile scientific organizations. The chapter further addresses the funding paradox whereby mission-oriented priorities erode curiosity-driven research, and the human capital crisis intensified by visa restrictions and chilling effects on researcher mobility. Strategic responses including privacy-enhancing technologies, neutral scientific zones, and multilateral consortium models are evaluated as pathways toward preserving collaborative science.