Administration Outlines R&D Budget Priorities for 2007

Homeland security R&D, high-end computing, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative are among the interagency R&D priorities that will receive a special focus in agency budget requests, according to a memorandum outlining the Administration's R&D budget priorities for 2007.

Released earlier this month, the memo from John Marburger, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Joshua Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, provides general guidance for setting priorities among R&D programs and an overview of R&D investment criteria for agencies.

Under the general R&D program guidance section, the memo states that agencies must "vigorously evaluate existing programs and, wherever possible, consider them for modification, redirection, reduction or termination, in keeping with national needs and priorities." Two areas requiring special agency attention and focus through the National Science and Technology Council are federal scientific collections and R&D assets, the memo states.

Interagency R&D priorities that, according to the memo, should receive special focus in agency budget requests include:

• Homeland Security R&D efforts that seek to further reduce vulnerabilities, including decontamination capabilities, predictive modeling; enhanced biometric systems, secure land and maritime borders, and safety of the nation's food supply and agricultural systems;
• Investments in High-End Computing and cyber infrastructure R&D, due to their potential for broad impact;
• Support for both basic and applied R&D within the National Nanotechnology Initiative, with high priority given to research on societal implications, human health, and environmental issues related to nanotechnology;
• Physical Sciences priorities that include research, instrumentation, and facilities that aim to close significant gaps in the fundamental physical understanding of phenomena that promise significant new technologies with broad societal impact;
• Targeted investments toward understanding Complex Biological Systems through collaborations among physical, computation, behavioral, social and biological researchers and engineers; and,
• Energy and Environment initiatives including those activities outlined in the Administration's 2004 U.S. Ocean Action Plan and agency efforts addressing the critical technology barriers associated with the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.

The memo also reiterates the three primary criteria of relevance, quality and performance that apply under the President's Management Agenda, which directs agencies to use the R&D investment criteria to improve investment decisions for, and management of, their R&D programs. Industry-relevant applied R&D must meet additional criteria, the memo states, which are described in a previous memorandum available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-15.pdf

The 2007 R&D Budget Priorities are available at: http://www.ostp.gov/html/budget/2007/ostp_omb_guidancememo_FY07.pdf