They’re rethinking R&D. Last week, the Trump administration released a pair of documents guiding its science and technology strategy. Science: A New Golden Age, by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), lays out the administration’s path to “reexamine America’s research and development ecosystem in light of changes brought on by the 21st century.” Then the Ushering in a New Golden Age of American Innovation memo, by the OSTP and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), details how that strategy will be implemented in the administration’s budget priorities. The dual documents raise a number of burning questions. We had our experts research the answers below.
1. Big picture, what does this mean for US research and development?
Since World War II, if you were a scientist doing government-funded research, you most likely worked at one of a handful of universities. Washington just signaled that’s no longer guaranteed, and that shift could fundamentally change which scientists get funded, which research centers get built, and where and what kinds of breakthroughs make their way into US industry.
The OSTP memos are pushing this structural shift away from the traditional academic grantee in three ways.
