"Science and Technology Investments and Policy in the Obama Administration"

Speaker: Kei Koizumi, Assistant Director, Federal Research and Development, Executive Office of the President

Commentator: Jason Owen-Smith, Associate Professor of Sociology and Organizational Studies, University of Michigan

Date: Monday, 16 November 4:00-5:30 pm (reception to follow)

Location: 1110 Weill Hall (Betty Ford Classroom), 735 S. State St., Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Sponsored by The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation Co-Sponsored by the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research and the University of Michigan College of Engineering

ABSTRACT: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is responsible for leading the formulation and implementation of science and technology policy (S&T) within the US government and carrying out Administration priorities through the application of science and technology policy. The Obama Administration is committed to harnessing S&T to make progress on four key national challenges of economic recovery and renewed growth; dealing with the interrelated challenges of energy, the environment, and climate; a healthier American people; and a secure America within a global world. To accomplish these goals, OSTP is harnessing resources for Federal research and development (R&D) investments, but also attempting to implement new science policy practices. This year, with the successful conclusion of the 2009 federal appropriations, an unprecedented $18.3 billion in R&D funding in the Recovery Act, and the proposed 2010 Budget, the federal government is poised to make the two largest R&D investments in history in 2009 and 2010. OSTP and the National Economic Council (NEC) recently released A Strategy for American Innovation that provides a framework for understanding past, current, and future Obama Administration policies in science, technology, entrepreneurship, education, workforce, and infrastructure. Part of the broad strategy is a policy framework to invest in the building blocks of American innovation. A key policy priority within the strategy is to restore American leadership in fundamental research. To do this, in February the Administration incorporated the largest increase in US federal basic research in history ($18+ billion) as part of the Recovery Act. In April, President Obama announced the President's Plan for Science and Innovation to double the budgets of three key US science agencies over a decade. In May, the US Federal 2010 Budget proposed to make the Research & Experimentation Tax Credit to provide incentives for private-sector R&D investments, and also established a plan to triple the number of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships in four years to encourage tomorrow's leading scientists. And in April, President Obama proposed a goal that the US should invest three percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in R&D as a nation, a goal he has reiterated on several occasions since then. Within existing US investments, OSTP and others have been working to increase the impacts of investments by providing more support for high-risk, high-return research, for multidisciplinary research, and for early career scientists. All of these policy initiatives are organized to make progress toward the four key national challenges. KEI KOIZUMI is Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Koizumi joined OSTP in mid-February after having served on the Obama transition team as part of the Technology, Innovation & Government Reform Policy Working Group. Before joining OSTP, Koizumi served as the longtime Director of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). While at AAAS, he became known as a leading authority on federal science and technology funding and budget issues and was a frequent speaker to public groups and to the press. He was the principal budget analyst, editor, and writer for AAAS reports on federal R&D. Koizumi received his M.A. from the Center for International Science, Technology, and Public Policy program at George Washington University, and received his B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Boston University.

For more information, contact the Program in Science, Technology, and Public Policy through stpp.fordschool.umich.edu or directly by e-mail: stpp@umich.edu