Study: IT research program deserves more resources

A federal program that funds technology research may need more resources and new modes of research to continue to be successful, several experts said at a  House committee hearing today. They testified before the House Science and Technology Committee about the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD)  program. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) recently conducted an assessment of the NITRD program, and found it should provide more of its funding for high-risk/high-reward research. “I believe the NITRD program has been largely a success,” said Committee Chairman Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.). “It has made a substantial contribution to moving computation to an equal place along side theory and experiment for conducting research in science and engineering.” “The technical advances that led to today’s computing devices and networks, and the software that drive them, evolved from past research sponsored by industry and government, often in partnership, and conducted by industry, universities and federal labs,” he said. Christopher Greer, director of the National Coordination Office for Networking and Information Technology Research and Development, said the program has been successful in researching and developing several areas related to advanced networking and information technology.