Broadband access is an essential part of our economy. Given the reliance of so many American businesses and families on this basic technology, it's easy to overlook that just 15 years ago broadband barely existed for consumers. To create jobs and grow wages at home, and to compete in the global information economy, the delivery of fast, affordable and reliable broadband service to all corners of the United States must be a national imperative. The build-out of broadband infrastructure itself is a major driver of American investment and job creation, but even more significant are the ways that...

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed into the law the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (COMPETES), granting all agencies broad authority to conduct prize competitions to spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core missions. Prizes have an established track record of spurring innovation in the private and philanthropic sectors. This report details examples of how well-designed prizes integrated into a broader innovation strategy have enabled Federal agencies to: Pay only for success and establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or approach is...

The Nation's economic competitiveness and prosperity in the coming decades will depend critically upon the pace of American innovation. Recognizing the importance of advanced materials in supporting an innovation-driven U.S. manufacturing sector, President Barack Obama introduced the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) in June 2011 with this aim: discover, develop, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials twice as fast, at a fraction of the cost. This ambitious goal is within reach. Research conducted in the early 2000s demonstrated that a systems level approach to material design,...

We live in an era of unprecedented stress on our planet. The combination of population growth, climate change, resource demand, and the continuing development of coastal and built areas creates significant challenges for the nation. To meet these challenges, there is a need for information about the Earth system and how it is changing over time. A robust infrastructure of Earth observations is necessary to support the nation's need to inform decisions and policy. Additionally, in this ever more global society, information and understanding derived from Earth observations are important in...

The United States Government invests in Earth observations that are critical to the protection of lives and property, national security, economic growth, and scientific inquiry. These data provide the fundamental basis for our understanding of all Earth-system phenomena, including weather and climate, natural hazards, land-use change, ecosystem health, and natural-resource availability. A core principle of the U.S. Government is that Federal Earth-observation data are public goods, paid for by the American people, and that free, full, and open access to these data significantly enhances their...

The FSTW's recommendations are organized under four strategic priorities: focused effective leadership, S&T mission and workforce alignment, use of workplace authorities and flexibilities, and collaboration between human resources professionals and S&T managers. The recommendations provide valuable opportunities for the Federal agencies to maintain a world-class Federal S&T workforce; achieving these priorities, however, requires commitment to developing a personnel system and work environments in which the best and brightest are offered meaningful S&T careers in government service.

This document has three primary objectives: 1) identify the needs and activities described in the Strategic Research Plan that are currently being addressed by Federal agencies; 2) coordinate future Federal activities that are guided by and align with the goals of the Strategic Research Plan; and 3) communicate Federal actions on ocean acidification to the public. Implementation of the Strategic Research Plan will be an ongoing, long-term, iterative process to ensure that Federal ocean acidification activities address goals outlined in the Strategic Research Plan. In this ongoing work, the...

The U.S. civil and military aviation community has historically relied upon energy-dense liquid jet fuel that is derived from petroleum, which is subject to volatile pricing and uncertain supply and harmful to the environment. More recently developed jet fuel alternatives derived from nonpetroleum feedstock can help address those issues and other U.S. energy-related challenges, making development of alternative energy fuels (AJFs) of increased interest in the realm of aviation. Effective Federal research and development can enable AJF development by reducing the costs of producing fuel,...