Last month, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued their annual joint memo to Federal agencies on the Administration’s research priorities for the FY25 budget. The memo provides guidance to agencies as they work on their FY25 budget request submissions in advance of the release of the President’s Budget Request next year in early Spring.
The Administration is guiding Federal agencies to craft their FY25 budget requests around several functional focus areas including reducing barriers and inequities by supporting regional innovation and workforce development and broadening public participation and community engagement in R&D. Additionally, the Administration is requesting agencies focus on assisting emerging research institutions and other underrepresented stakeholders successfully compete for Federal funding by experimenting with new funding processes, streamlining administrative burdens, and exploring new R&D methods.
The guidance also contains several thematic priorities for agencies to consider as they craft their budgets including:
Artificial Intelligence
- Designing tools and methods to mitigate AI risks and protect civil rights and liberties;
- Innovating ways to apply AI to improve government functions and services;
- Supporting R&D for national security with consideration toward biosafety, biosecurity, cybersecurity, and nuclear energy; and
- Designing powerful AI systems that enhance jobs and the economy, safety, and democracy.
Climate Change
- Supporting R&D efforts toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and measuring and monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and removal;
- Advancing climate modeling and monitoring including the integration of Indigenous Knowledge and social science research;
- Enhancing climate resilience through the U.S. Global Change Research Program; and
- Funding efforts to support a national system of environmental and economic statistics.
Critical Technologies
- Advancing critical and emerging technology areas including microelectronics, biotechnology, quantum information science, advanced materials, high performance computing, and nuclear energy; and
- Leveraging R&D investments in advanced manufacturing, digital engineering, and robotics to increase government and industry capacity to accelerate demonstration to deployment at scale.
Disease Prevention and Emerging Health Threats
- Bolstering the Cancer Moonshot initiative including prevention, early detection, novel therapies, and care delivery;
- Enhancing the capacity to mitigate emerging health threats like antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases; and
- Improving public health, health equity, and innovation in disease prevention, with a focus on at-risk communities like veterans and LGBTQ+, and environmental justice.