Advancing U.S. Biosciences
An EMCP dialogue
Over the past few years, federal agencies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, among other groups, have published thoughtful recommendations on how the federal government can better focus and fund biosciences R&D. Although the Administration and Congress have taken some initial steps to realize the potential of biosciences coordination and biomanufacturing, neither has developed a comprehensive, well-coordinated and broad program of activities, funding and goals—from basic science through applied development—that would help to maintain U.S. leadership in biotechnology and advance economic growth more aggressively in the non-health and health related biosciences. Additionally, little progress has been made in collectively examining the biosciences as a national ecosystem taking advantage of the breadth of the physical, engineering and life sciences research that goes on in the US to advance biotechnology and bioengineering leadership and solutions across all national needs – from human health to energy and agriculture.
New approaches to funding, organizing and leveraging biosciences research and development among federal agencies, universities, national laboratories, industry and philanthropic entities in an integrated fashion are needed. Through a coordinated public-private partnership approach to investments and policy initiatives, the federal government can facilitate more efficient use of R&D resources and more strategically drive investments that will drive new paradigms of biomanufacturing, advanced agriculture, human health and moving energy solutions more quickly to the marketplace.
The U.S. Council on Competitiveness, in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, convened nearly 40 key representatives from across government, academia and industry on July 27, 2016, for a day-long, invitation-only in-depth discussion to present specific recommendations that will speed the harnessing of advance biosciences to address national needs.
From improving the nation’s biomanufacturing competitiveness to addressing grand scientific challenges for energy, the environment, human health and agriculture, this group and the discussion focused on the development of cross-cutting technologies and platform scientific tools that will broaden and deepen the US’s biosciences and bioengineering capabilities. Of particular importance to the discussion was shared resources and technologies that can drive progress across all agencies that depend on research, development and deployment to meet their mission objectives.
The immediate goal of the discussion was to focus the attention of key policymakers, federal funders, academia, companies and national labs on the potential for advances in the biosciences through the development of platform technologies and the reduction of silos among agencies to speed and advance solutions to grand challenges and agencies’ specific mission needs. In the long-term, we hope to successfully establish an ongoing initiative to explore paths forward for better coordination and more strategic leveraging of existing resources among federal agencies and the development of more widely available technology platforms to drive biosciences based solutions for energy, the environment, human health and agriculture.
Issues addressed included:
- Identification of roadblocks, gaps, bottlenecks, and expectations of industry, policy makers, and consumers in harnessing advanced biosciences;
- Discussion on the potential development of platform technologies and resources and their potential application across areas of greatest potential impact;
- How to better take advantage of and leverage existing federal resources and areas of expertise to advance bioscience solutions by agencies, companies and universities;
- Examination of social, regulatory and economic issues surrounding manufacturing and the adoption of bio synthetic products;
- United States’ international competitive standing in the biosciences and its impact on economic development.
