[tobias2014]

Is academia supposed to compete? I think the researchers wish for that, but that's not directly how government funding agencies see it. From a government's funding perspective the goal is to train tomorrow's workforce. People learn in academia and then transition and contribute outside. As far as agencies like DOE go, that is an explicit goal.

[Xeronate]

isn’t government funding for academia mainly grants for research rather than investments in teaching.

[tobias2014]

Recently talked to a DOE program manager. I confronted them with the question why we do things like machine learning or quantum computing in academia, when there's no hope in matching industry for those things. His answer was that from an official perspective this isn't the goal, but future workforce training for national interests and security. NSF might differ slightly, but I think this makes sense.