There can be safe-guards against funding gaps, which are already in-place in some universities (e.g. at least in some parts of Europe). While funding is allocat

There can be safe-guards against funding gaps, which are already in-place in some universities (e.g. at least in some parts of Europe). While funding is allocated by politicians the exact distribution of that funding is done on another level. Those levels have their own version of politics, of course, but the closer the people that administer funds are to the actual domain of spending the likelier it is to get informed decisions. Also, current existing research grant programs could be scaled to fit the size that development requires. I wouldn't trust a politician to manage research money directly, so another layer of indirection could help.