Contributing to the Endless Frontier Act Discussion
The Endless Frontier Act, currently being considered by the US Congress, would provide a $100 billion strategic investment in a reformed and renamed National Science and Technology Foundation to bolster science and technology research and development. This considerable increase in overall funding may mark a major shift in the US research and development priorities. It also is a potentially significant opportunity for a major step forward toward realizing the HRA’s vision of an improved research and innovation ecosystem that better contributes to solving society’s critical problems.
The HRA management group views that this shift should include a recognition that significant technological advances to address pressing societal challenges are the result of interactions in an ecosystem rather than as a linear process, and that major breakthroughs are more likely when researchers collaborate across institutional, sectoral, and disciplinary boundaries, as is the case in HIBAR research projects. We had the opportunity to join this national discussion by publishing an article in Issues in Science and Technology.
We have a critical window of opportunity to contribute to this discussion, with a hope of positively influencing the societal impacts of research, and we are working with other organizations to help advance this discussion.