Rolf-Dieter Heuer — German Physicist born on May 24, 1948,

Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer is a German particle physicist and the Director General of CERN since 2009... (wikipedia)

The short-term vision is: I research on something which I can use tomorrow, and for some politicians it is even better if it's today. But if you do this, you can only do targeted research. If you only do targeted research, you lose the side-routes.
If you don't invest in basic research at some stage you start losing the basis of applied research.
If there is no fundamental science then there is no basis for applied science. We have to strike a balance. 23 years ago the World Wide Web was born here. It has changed the world dramatically.
Whatever basic science resolves, at some stage it is of use to society. The problem is we do not know when or where.
The ability to work together has to be in the blood of particle physicists. They learn very early on that it is impossible to advance on one's own and that constant exchange is necessary.