Federal TBED Funding and Programs Could Expand under Obama Administration

Last month the New York Times, with research from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), estimated the annual cost of Obama's innovation plan at $85.6 billion. The president-elect pledged during the campaign to double the current level of funding for basic research over the next ten years at federal science agencies and to fully fund the America Competes Act, signed by President George Bush, at $5.9 billion annually.

In order to foster private sector innovation, the Obama plan would make the research and development tax credit permanent, double funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to increase collaboration between university researchers and industry and invest in a nationwide network of public-private incubators. The plan would also increase research spending on defense and homeland security, including DARPA and Homeland Security ARPA.

The plan also called for: restoring the role of White House science advisor to a senior-level position, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology would report directly to the President and would serve as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP); and, strengthening the role of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), which would offer private sector and academic insight into federal innovation policy.

Also included in the plan was a new $500 million Technology Investment Fund that would build on existing federal education technology programs by offering matching grants to ensure that technology is integrated in public schools. The funds would be used to introduce new high-tech learning tools, build a new technology-based curriculum and help connect teachers through social networks to increase collaboration. In order to improve the quality and number of science and technology educators, the plan called for 40,000 Teaching Service scholarships of up to $25,000 each to increase the number of teachers in high-need subjects and underserved regions. Federal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education policy would be coordinated by a new STEM Education Committee in OSTP. This committee would also be charged with devising a new method of tracking student achievement in STEM subjects.

At the university-level, the plan calls for tripling the number of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships from 1,000 to 3,000 and creating a new Opportunity Tax Credit for college students. A Community College Partnership Program would help enhance STEM education at two-year schools to encourage community college students to transition into STEM programs at four-year universities.

Clean energy and green-collar jobs programs took center stage in Obama's plan to strengthen the U.S. economy. His New Energy for America plan called for investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to help commercialize clean energy advancements and to build the infrastructure for new fuel and electricity technology. An additional $50 billion over the next five years would capitalize a federal Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund to invest in promising energy technology projects. A new $1 billion program would allocate funds to states to help convert manufacturing centers into producers of clean energy technology. The plan also supported job training programs for military veterans and disadvantaged youth to get the skills needed to find work in the green economy.