News & Blog

July 24, 2026—On July 21, 2026, the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released Science: A New Golden Age and a FY28 R&D priorities memorandum. On July 22, the White House announced more than $5 billion in federal “commitments” for the Genesis Mission, with 20 federal agencies contributing research awards, future funding opportunities, datasets, and facilities. The OSTP report sets the proposed operating model, while Genesis appears to be its most visible cross-agency implementation mechanism. Immediately following both announcements, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a day-long Genesis Mission Summit, and the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee (SST) questioned OSTP Director Michael Kratsios on his policy and priorities memo.  

 Genesis Mission Announcements and Partnerships 

DOE’s March solicitation offered $293 million to solve 26 “challenges,” and is now reporting 278 selected projects, of which 168 are university-led, 87 are led by national laboratories, 19 are company-led, and four are nonprofit-led, involving a combined 342 institutions. The number of technology challenges has increased to 33, and will be supported by additional agency involvement and in-kind contributions. During the summit, DOE Under Secretary for Science Dario Gil called on interested university partners to submit member interest forms to be plugged in, regardless of inclusion in the first round of awards. 

Other U.S. agencies also announced their supplementary efforts at the summit. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a $400 million programmable-cloud-laboratory network involving 20 teams, $83 million in data-infrastructure awards, and a prospective program of up to $100 million for AI-ready datasets. The initiative leverages the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR), which increasingly appears to be used exclusively as a support resource for the Genesis Mission.  

 Announced Agency Priorities 

In support of the larger Genesis Mission, NSF issued a Dear Colleague Letter that channels Genesis-aligned proposals through existing programs and allows eligible awardees to seek NAIRR and Genesis resources. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) stated that more than $1.2 billion in obligated FY26 and planned FY27 funding is aligned with its six Bio Genesis challenges. The U.S. Department of War reported more than $200 million for FY26 and more than $1.3 billion for FY27. A release from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offers expertise and access to more than 150 petabytes of mission data. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced support infrastructure for digital twins, materials discovery, structural simulation, and predictive maintenance. The U.S. Department of the Interior will contribute data concerning critical minerals, water, subsurface energy, geology, and biological systems. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will contribute agricultural and biological data. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is to combine electronic health records and Million Veteran Program genomic data.  

Appropriations Not Finalized 

While these announcements have been made, it is not yet clear where the funding will come from. Congress has not appropriated funding beyond the original $300 million to the Genesis Mission. The president’s budget request for next year is $1 billion, but appropriators have not yet apportioned any of the above investments. Conversations with key congressional staff have revealed concerns that needed funding may be pulled from programs authorized and/or already appropriated by Congress.  

During the SST hearing, members of Congress displayed evidence of U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and White House involvement in reviewing NSF funding notices and cited a Nature article alleging that approximately $1.5 billion in NSF funding was being reapportioned to fund White House initiatives, like the Genesis Mission. Kratsios said that the White House does not decide which individual NSF proposals receive funding and referred allocation questions to NSF. Representatives also raised concerns regarding the timing of the April firing of the U.S. National Science Board and the May release of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s proposed rule. Kratsios did not directly respond to the question and instead spoke to his recently released Science: A New Golden Age memo. 

OSTP Memo: A New Federal Operating Model and FY28 Priorities 

The OSTP report calls for prioritizing individual scientists over legacy institutions; increasing fast grants; expanding investigator awards, prizes, and “golden-ticket” reviews; funding new research organizations; and reducing grant “paperwork.” It also calls on agencies to “rein in” indirect-cost recovery associated with administrative overhead and redirect resources toward scientific infrastructure. The report’s annex requires agencies with at least $3 billion in R&D budget authority to submit within 90 days plans showing how FY26 and FY27 program execution will support the memo’s goals. Meanwhile, the President’s FY28 budget request will also reflect the same priorities. The document lists the following R&D priorities for FY28: physical sciences; chemistry and materials science; mathematics and computer science; engineering sciences; biological sciences; AI; quantum; fusion; space; robotics; and semiconductors.  

 Beyond the proposed grant reforms, the report’s most consequential assumption is that the postwar model no longer describes the current research landscape. It states that American companies now spend roughly $700 billion annually on R&D, more than three times the combined spending of government and higher education, and discovery, engineering, manufacturing, and deployment increasingly “occur in an iterative loop.” OSTP proposes an integrated system built around shared federal facilities, joint industry-academic-federal centers, cross-sector fellowships, regional manufacturing clusters, and “Gold Standard Science” requirements for reproducibility, transparency, and data sharing. They are also looking to new forms of partnering mechanisms like other transaction authority (OTA)s and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to move research ahead quickly.  

 Why This Matters 

The Genesis Mission should be read as the first major implementation test of the broader OSTP framework, not only as an agency AI initiative. The document states that universities remain significant government partners, but the U.S. Administration is steering science toward addressing national challenges, shared infrastructure, cross-sector teams, commercialization, and domestic workforce outcomes. The near-term opportunities are likely to align faculty, facilities, datasets, and training programs with these new pathways. Required agency implementation plans, FY28 budget submissions, and congressional appropriations decisions will determine whether the Golden Age agenda broadens U.S. scientific capacity or primarily reallocates it toward a more centrally directed set of priorities. 

We want to hear from you 

How is your organization responding to the changing research funding landscape? Share your thoughts with the U-I community on our LinkedIn page.  

Thank you to Holten Stringer, associate vice president of Van Scoyoc Associates (VSA), for contributing this timely 3-Minute Read. 

Go Deeper 

• Read the full OSTP Memo Science: A New Golden Age here. 

• Read the $5 billion for Genesis Mission Announcement here. 

• Access the Genesis Awards listed here. 

• Watch the Genesis Mission Summit video here. 

The 3-Minute Read is a UIDP member information piece and does not represent the opinions of our members or representatives. We welcome your comments on our LinkedIn profile.