Setting Research Priorities in the Public Sector: A Suggested Framework for the AARC Center

An argument can be made for public support of pre-commercial research and development (R&D) when private industry, acting in response to market incentives, underinvests in socially desireable projects. Research projects meeting this criterion must still compete for scarce public funds. The Alternative Agriculture Research and Commercialization (AARC) Center was mandated by Congress to support pre-commercial R&D in new uses of agricultural commodities. This article develops a three-phase scoring model to evaluate and prioritize AARC Center proposals.