Posts filed under ‘Office of Science and Technology Policy’
White House releases National Bioeconomy Blueprint
On April 26, the Obama administration released its outline the future of the U.S. biological research enterprise, the National Bioeconomy Blueprint. The “bioeconomy” is defined as the “economic activity that is fueled by research and innovation in the biological sciences,” and the blueprint outlines a plan for government and private agencies that will strengthen these activities and spur economic growth.
In January the Office of Science Technology Policy released a request for information asking research stakeholders to provide recommendations on how to best harness the full potential of the U.S. bioeconomy. The OSTP RFI resulted in 135 submissions from individuals, universities and professional societies, including ASBMB. The primary recommendation from ASBMB was for continued federal support for basic research, since most, if not all, translational discoveries have their foundation in research that focused fundamental questions.
The blueprint outlines five broad objectives that address the future of the health, energy, agriculture, environmental enterprises in the U.S.
- Support R&D investments that will provide the foundation for the future bioeconomy.
- Facilitate the transition of bioinventions from lab to market, including an increased focus on translational and regulatory sciences.
- Develop and reform regulations to reduce barriers, increase the speed and predictability of regulatory processes, and reduce costs while protecting human and environmental health.
- Update training programs and align academic institution incentives with student training for national work-force needs.
- Identify and support opportunities for the development of public-private partnerships and precompetitive collaborations—where competitors pool resources, knowledge and expertise to learn from successes and failures.
A major goal of the blueprint is to increase collaborations between different federal agencies and between federal and private agencies to maximize the potential of the resources and discoveries within these individual entities.
Several federal departments and agencies also released their initiatives to enact the goals outlined in the Bioeconomy Blueprint. The Center for Regenerative Medicine and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health were highlighted as new efforts to strengthen the U.S. bioeconomy.
“Minibus” bill signed into law, and continuing resolution keeps government running until mid-December
On Friday, Nov. 18, President Obama signed into law the first appropriations bill for fiscal 2012. The “minibus” bill provided $128 billion for several government agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
While some science-funding agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, fared well with a budget increase of $173 million for FY12, other entities faced drastic budget reductions. The Office of Science and Technology Policy received a budget cut of 32 percent, down to $4.5 million from $6.6 million. Included in the spending bill was language that prohibits the OSTP from engaging in actives with the Chinese government that carry the risk of transferring “sensitive” science and technology data. See the full conference report here, and go to Page 84 for the section dealing with the OSTP.
Also included in the spending bill was a second continuing resolution to keep the government funded until Dec. 16. The nine remaining appropriations bills could be passed either in several additional “minibus” bills or through one large omnibus bill.
