Emerging technologies star in White House R&D priorities

Advancing responsible artificial intelligence, leveraging emerging technologies for national security purposes and decarbonizing the U.S. economy were named as three of the Biden administration’s research priority areas for the fiscal 2025, further emphasizing the role critical and developing tech stands to play in key government operations in the years to come.

Unveiled Thursday by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the memorandum named seven research areas as upcoming priorities across several federal agencies.

“To make its vital contribution to our future, federal R&D must sustain America’s leadership position in science and technology,” the memorandum, written by Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar, said. “It must take aim at and achieve bold, barely feasible goals.”

The memo specifically asks federal agencies to tailor their forthcoming fiscal 2025 budget requests with the seven research and development priority areas in mind. The complete list includes trustworthy AI; national security technologies; climate crisis solutions; systems that support better universal health outcomes; social inequity reductions; and broadly supporting U.S. competitiveness in innovative technology research.

Specific critical and emerging technologies the White House listed in the memo featured quantum information sciences, high performance computing, microelectronics and nuclear energy, among others.

Underpinning these priority areas is the singular goal to continue advancing U.S.  interests and leadership through technological innovation. This includes a focus on fortifying the nation’s infrastructure, which has been under attack from malicious cyber actors at an increasing rate for several years.

Supporting supply chain resilience and cultivating a strong workforce also play into the Biden administration’s emphasis on a technologically-robust domestic infrastructure.