The United States has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support for Federal investment in science and technology. This ongoing support helps to ensure American leadership in discovery, cures, and solutions for decades to come. The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to propose investments that will define America’s next generation of global leadership in innovation, while infusing the work of government with greater equity, and the scientific research and technologies being developed with more durable benefit for all.
Federal funding for research and development (R&D) is essential to maximize the benefits of science and technology that advance health, tackle the climate crisis, and bring prosperity, security, environmental quality, and justice for all Americans. In addition to supporting R&D, agencies should make use of research results to carry out their own missions and ensure that the results of Federally funded research are made widely available to the public to facilitate understanding, participation, and inclusive decision-making; to other scientists to promote the exchange of ideas that is key to the advancement of knowledge; and, to innovators and entrepreneurs in every region of the United States, who will translate the research into world-leading businesses employing American workers. Equity should be the touchstone for all of these investments, including a deliberate emphasis on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, rural communities, and other disadvantaged communities that have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. And, as we seek to make our supply chains more resilient, these R&D investments should protect intellectual property developed in the United States and help create products that are made by U.S. workers.
This memorandum outlines the Administration’s multi-agency R&D priorities for formulating fiscal year (FY) 2024 Budget submissions to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The priorities covered in this memo will require Federal investments in R&D; actionable and equitable measurement of program outcomes; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, engagement, and workforce development; research infrastructure; public access to Federally funded research; and, technology transfer and commercialization. These priorities should be addressed within the FY 2024 Budget guidance levels provided by OMB. Agency budget submissions should note when they address these priorities. Agencies engaged in complementary activities should consult with one another during the budget planning process to coordinate resources, maximize impact, and avoid unnecessary duplication. Agencies should include summaries of these consultations—including through National Science and Technology Council bodies—in their OMB budget submissions. As in previous years, the investments supported by the Budget for the R&D priorities listed below will be highlighted in the FY 2024 Analytical Perspectives Volume.
Multi-Agency Priority Guidance
FY 2024 Budget submissions should invest in the fundamental infrastructure—the knowledge, institutions, places, networks and people—that makes science possible. There should be a coherent commitment to building a robust and inclusive ecosystem for American science and technology. To do so, agencies must focus on evidence-based, promising practices and mechanisms for fostering, conducting, using, and sharing the fruits of research. Examples of such practices include easy disclosure practices for Federal grants through use of a persistent digital identifier, reducing administrative burdens while improving scientific integrity, evidence-based professional development and mentoring structures, robust anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, and full activation of our domestic talent pool, including through more inclusive national engagement. All of these practices are part of reimagining how the Federal science agencies drive equitable innovation. Furthermore, agencies should seek collaborations with private industry, mission-aligned non-profits, and other external stakeholders who can help make these significant investments more sustainable. Towards this end, agencies should prioritize investments that modernize Federal laboratory, testing, and prototyping infrastructure and, where possible, share that infrastructure with universities, non-profits, and the private sector to promote discovery, education, training, and commercialization.
Agencies should balance priorities to ensure that resources are allocatedfor agency-specific, mission-driven R&D, including discovery-oriented research and use-inspired research, while at the same time focusing resources, where appropriate, on the following multi-agency R&D and STEM education activities that cannot be addressed by a single agency.
• Preparing for and preventing pandemics
• Reducing the death rate from cancer by half
• Tackling climate change
• Advancing national security and technological competitiveness
• Innovating for equity
• Cultivating an equitable STEM education, engagement, and workforce ecosystem
• Promoting open science and community-engaged R&D
The following sections describe in greater detail the motivation and priorities within these seven domains. . . .
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/M-22-15.pdf