White House Seeking Input for 21st Century Global Challenges Initiative

The National Economic Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) are asking for public input for a new initiative intended to address the challenges of the 21st century. The initiative, which would be similar to the National Academy of Engineering's (NAE) Grand Challenges for Engineering program, would help catalyze innovations to spur economic growth, encourage multidisciplinary collaborations and improve STEM education. Responses are needed to help identify specific challenges, potential partners and models for the program.

President Obama originally announced that his administration would launch the Grand Challenges Initiative in his National Innovation Strategy, released last September (see the September 23, 2009 Digest). The strategy identified eight challenges of national importance, where the market was considered unlikely to produce optimal research and commercialization outcomes on its own. These sectors include:

• Complete DNA sequencing of every case of cancer, plus new anti-cancer medicine and therapeutics;
• Affordable solar cells and energy self-sufficient buildings;
• Lightweight vest that can stop armor-piercing bullets;
• Compelling educational software;
• Intelligent prosthetics;
• Biological systems that turn sunlight into carbon-neutral fuel;
• An exascale supercomputer capable of next-generation simulations; and,
• Automatic, accurate and real-time translation technologies.

The White House currently is seeking public input on four aspects of the initiative, including:

• Responses to the grand challenges included in the President's innovation strategy;
• Other grand challenges that the the administration should consider;
• Partners that are interested in collaboration to achieve the initiative's goals; and,
• Models for creating an "architecture of participation" that allows many individuals and organizations to contribute to efforts supported by the initiative.

The Administration says that it will work closely with NAE's Grand Challenges for Engineering, which began in 2008, and will be holding a series of summits across the country this year addressing its focus areas. As part of the initiative, NAE has created the Grand Challenge Scholars program, to prepare students to solve 21st century engineering challenges. The program combines research opportunities, multidisciplinary engineering curriculum, entrepreneurship education, global collaborations and service learning to improve student participation and success in vital research. More than 25 U.S. universities are currently part of the effort.

The current solicitation from the administration will help determine what form the new initiative will take. Responses to the OSTP request for information are due by April 15, 2010.

Read OSTP's announcement at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/02/04/grand-challenges-21st-century.