Last week, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences celebrated the opening of the Harold Alfond Center for Ocean Education and Innovation. This is a milestone moment for a world-class scientific laboratory; a moment equally important to the state of Maine.

Bigelow’s scientific discoveries are fundamental to our understanding of the changing oceans and the challenges and opportunities they present for fisheries and related food sources, human and planetary health and sustainable energy systems. With this new facility, Bigelow will be poised to lead our state’s efforts to translate the findings of leading-edge research into commercial enterprises, businesses that will strengthen job growth and economic development across Maine.

This project benefited from two extraordinary grants. Sen. Susan Collins announced $12.3 million in funding from the federal government in 2022, and the Harold Alfond Foundation saw the same opportunity to bolster the prospects of our state with a leadership grant that propelled this initiative forward.

If Maine is going to compete for the next generation of manufacturing investments — and our state needs to not only compete but to win — then we must attract strong financial support for our scientific institutions and infrastructure. Whether it is semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, new timber products or sustainable food sources from our oceans, Maine needs the scientific capacity and a reputation for innovation that will support and recruit these businesses.

Last August at the MDI Biological Laboratory, Sen. Collins announced another spectacular federal grant: $19.4 million to renew funding for the Maine Biomedical Research Network, a consortium of 16 organizations across the state. In her remarks that day, Sen. Collins made a compelling argument for robust and consistent funding for scientific research, a driver of the world’s strongest innovation economy.

Now as chair of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations, Collins is making the same case to her colleagues in Congress. The argument is timely, as America’s scientific enterprise is facing cuts that could end our country’s 60-year run as the global leader. This threat takes on added urgency with a multi-nation race underway to lead in artificial intelligence, quantum information systems, battery and energy storage technology and drug therapies that can extend and improve life, to name a few.

In my home city of Waterville, nearly 40 new businesses have opened in our downtown in the last several years, creating hundreds of jobs and a far stronger tax base for our city. It is a good success story, because small businesses are the backbone of our economy. But our state needs more industries of scale that can provide hard-working Mainers with the good pay and benefits they deserve. Our mills and manufacturing companies provided these jobs before they were decimated by global trends.

The encouraging fact is that new opportunities are available if we are ready for them. Consider the $50-billion CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which was designed to make the U.S. a leader in semiconductor research and manufacturing. Ohio and Arizona have benefited from massive investment of these government resources, which have established new industries and a stronger economic base.

We need to position our communities for the innovation economy. At Colby, we are making historic investments in science and innovation. That’s a requirement for an outstanding college education. However, we are taking it a step further by ensuring those investments can serve our region and advance the science and innovation ecosystem that will position Maine for an economic resurgence.

There is no route forward in this emerging economy without enduring and mutually supportive partnerships. Over the last three years, Sen. Collins has secured more than $1 billion in funding for Maine’s towns, organizations and people. It is an astounding record. At the same time, the Harold Alfond Foundation has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in our state universities and community colleges, our health systems and our scientific communities. Maine is fortunate to have this outstanding advocacy and generosity.

We see every day how quickly our world is changing. Maine has to continue to adapt, as it has done for more than two centuries, so the amazing people of this state and future generations will prosper in a new economy driven by science, technology and innovation. The investments we make now will be like an annuity, paying back over the long term in the form of jobs and dynamic, healthy communities.