U.S. multi-agency policy report draws on findings from UIDP Bioeconomy Workshop series
March 24, 2022 – This week, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a new report, “Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing: Harnessing Research and Development to Further Societal Goals,” which outlines priorities for both private and public sectors to pursue R&D in biotech and biomanufacturing. The report draws from contributions from the National Science Foundation and the departments of Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, and Health and Human Services.
UIDP convened five workshops in FY2022 on behalf of the NSF Biology Directorate to identify biotechnology areas where strategic investments will accelerate the transformation of research into products, services, and new techniques that translate into real-world solutions. This work was referenced and linked in the report as a source for valuable stakeholder input.
The Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), a UIDP-administered initiative, was also referenced and linked in the report for its work to convene visioning workshops and identify priorities with relevance to the bioeconomy (ERVA’s first two reports have direct relevance to the topic, The Role of Engineering to Address Climate Change and Leveraging Biology to Power Engineering Impact).
“The ERVA visioning events and UIDP-NSF biotechnology workshops follow UIDP’s historic practice of bringing together the voices of industry and academia to carefully consider potential solutions to our most complex problems,” said Anthony Boccanfuso, UIDP president and CEO and ERVA co-principal investigator. “We are pleased to see that the new report reiterates many of the key findings and conclusions drawn from these UIDP activities.”
Acknowledgment of UIDP’s role in the report underscores the value of its work and the impact its members’ voices have on research priorities in science and technology. The report frequently emphasizes the importance of public-private partnerships to achieve solutions that address climate change and contribute to a thriving bioeconomy. UIDP enables greater cross-sector collaboration (industry, academia, government, and nonprofits) for use-inspired and translational R&D through its convening and practice sharing activities, offering significant benefit to society.