Designing a Digital Future: Federally Funded Research and Development in Networking and Information Technology (NIT R&D)

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has published this report to the President and the Congress on the progress in the NIT R&D program since 2010.  The current study finds that important NITRD investments responsive to the 2010 recommendations have been made, with notable progress in the multi-agency investments in “big data,” NIT-enabled interaction with the physical world, health IT, and cybersecurity. Furthermore, significant progress has been made in creating infrastructure for network scaling and testbeds. Some of the areas have received less attention and investment than was recommended, however. Efforts in educational technology, energy and transportation, and interagency collaboration still appear to be lacking, and R&D levels remain inadequate. The new PCAST report calls for a broad, high-level advisory mechanism to help meet these continuing NIT challenges. The full report is available here.