PCAST Assesses Federal Information Technology R&D

The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its latest report to the President and Congress, Ensuring Leadership in Federally Funded Research and Development in Information Technology. The report is a Congressionally mandated assessment of the Federal Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, which coordinates the Nation’s federally-funded research and development. This report provides an update on the progress of the NITRD Program since the last assessment in 2013 and makes new recommendations. In the report, PCAST focuses on eight R&D areas: cybersecurity, IT and health, Big Data and data-intensive computing, IT and the physical world, privacy protection, cyber-human systems, high capability computing, and foundational computing research.

The report provides recommendations for the Federal Government to lead in the education and training of its people for participation in the IT workforce. Steps are needed to establish a healthy and expanding educational pipeline that attracts and retains a diverse pool of young people to IT careers. Leadership is also needed in designing educational programs that enable lifelong IT learning and education. The report offers recommendations to continue to coordinate Federal investment in IT R&D effectively. It is time to refresh the set of categories for IT R&D spending, known as Program Component Areas (PCAs). Many of these PCAs date back to 1995 and have remained unchanged. This report proposes eight new PCAs beginning in FY 2017 and recommends updating them every 5 to 6 years to ensure alignment with current priorities in IT fields.