White House announces FY '07 R&D budget priorities

The respective directors of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) have issued guidance to all executive branch departments and agencies referencing the Bush administration's research and development priorities. To improve investment decisions for-and management of-R&D programs, agencies must apply the following three criteria to all R&D programs: relevance, quality, and performance.

The administration supports federal R&D that:

• Advances fundamental scientific discovery to improve future quality of life.

• Strengthens science, mathematics, and engineering education.

• Enables potentially high-payoff activities that require a federal presence to attain long-term national goals.

• Addresses societal and environmental impacts of science and technology.

• Ensures a scientifically literate population and a supply of qualified technical personnel commensurate with national need.

• Supports technological innovation to spur economic growth and new job growth.

• Strengthens international partnerships that foster the advancement of scientific frontiers.

The OMB guidance states that interagency R&D priorities should receive attention in agencies' budget requests. Among the highest-priority interagency R&D initiatives are homeland security, high-end computing and networking, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, priorities in the physical sciences, the understanding of complex biological systems, and energy and the environment. The entire document may be viewed at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2005/m05-18.pdf.

Could China outpace the United States in technical R&D?

Between 1996 and 2001 China increased its number of science and engineering Ph.D.s almost twofold to 8,153. Governmental spending on R&D doubled between 1997 and 2002 to roughly $900 million. Add to that the private investment in R&D, and the total Chinese R&D investment stands at 1.29 percent of GDP (current as of 2002).

The United States hasn't lost its position of pre-eminence yet, but there are sobering indications that it is losing ground. In 2001, 25,509 Americans earned doctoral degrees in science and engineering, down from 27,243 in 1996. U.S. government investment in R&D in math, engineering, and the physical sciences stands at just 0.16 percent of GDP, down from 0.25 percent in 1970.

U.S. business interests are taking notice of this trend. The Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. corporations with a combined workforce of more than 10 million employees, views the lack of science and engineering students in the United States as a threat to the country's future global competitiveness. It notes that since 1980 the number of science and engineering jobs in the U.S. has grown at five times the rate of overall employment, but that the number of college degrees awarded in those fields has not kept pace. Its study, "Understanding and Responding to Imbalances in Engineering and IT Labor Markets," speculates that inadequate science and math education in primary and secondary schools may be one reason that fewer than six in 100 U.S. students seek science or engineering degrees (see: www.businessroundtable.org/pdf/20040930002Harrington.pdf).

Senators pledge measure promoting science education

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators recently announced their intention to file legislation to promote science and engineering in higher education.

"As we are seeing India and China and many other economies out there out-compete us in certain areas, we must respond," said Senate Commerce Technology Subcommittee Chairman John Ensign, R-Nev. Ensign was joined by Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sens. George Allen, R-Va., and Ken Salazar, D-Colo.

Lieberman compared the current competitive environment to what the United States faced in the 1980s, when policymakers and business leaders feared the Japanese educational and industrial sectors were outpacing their U.S. counterparts. "We met the Japan challenge, but the challenge is back now," he said, citing the 250,000 engineers per year that China graduates.

The senators pledged to introduce legislation echoing the recommendations for workforce training and higher education recommended by the council. They also said their measure would increase federal support for the "tech talent" bill providing grants to universities for science and technology.

NIST launches new technical regulations service

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently launched a Web-based information service to provide information on standards-related developments in export markets.

This service, "Notify U.S.," replaces "Export Alert!" and offers a fast, comprehensive, global perspective on proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures that might influence U.S. access to export markets. Users of the new service will have access to notifications and full texts of regulations issued by World Trade Organization (WTO) members, and can monitor proposed changes across chosen countries and 41 fields of industrial or technical activities.

"Notify U.S." is operated by NIST's National Center for Standards and Certification Information, the United States' designated Inquiry Point under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade. Additional information may be found at www.nist.gov/notifyus.

— Kathryn Holmes
Director, ASME Government Relations

 

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