Grand Challenges of the 21st Century

In September, President Obama released his Strategy for American Innovation, designed to foster sustainable growth and help create high-quality jobs. One of the goals of the President's strategy is to harness science and technology to address the "grand challenges" of the 21st century in areas such as health, clean energy, national security, and education and life-long learning. Examples of specific goals that have been previously articulated by the President and others include early detection of dozens of diseases from a saliva sample, solar cells as cheap as paint, and educational software that is as compelling as the best video game and effective as a personal tutor. Today, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Economic Council are releasing a "request for information" that is designed to collect input from the public regarding:

• The grand challenges that were identified in the President's innovation strategy;
• Other grand challenges that the Administration should consider, such as those identified by the National Academy of Engineering;
• Partners (e.g. companies, investors, foundations, social enterprises, non-profit organizations, philanthropists, research universities, consortia, etc.) that are interested in collaborating with each other and the Administration to achieve one or more of these goals; and
• Models for creating an "architecture of participation" that allows many individuals and organizations to contribute to the process of finding solutions to these grand challenges.

Responses to this RFI are due April 15th.