An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will be convened to advise the federal Government on the following questions:
1. Given today's competitive environment, how should federal R&D funding agencies evaluate or bound the openness of science and encourage transition from idea to commercialization, considering the benefits and drawbacks of specific technology protection and commercialization options?
2. What solutions are required to address market or institutional challenges, if any, related to the production and commercialization of advances discovered in research, particularly those that may have potentially significant impacts on U.S. national security?
3. What are the appropriate policy changes related to research, production, commercialization, and technology protection that will help accelerate the marketing/fielding of advances stemming from U.S.-funded research within and to the benefit of the United States, in particular for technologies critical for national security leadership?
These questions will be considered in the context of one or more specific science and technology domains that impact U.S. scientific leadership and national security and will include, at a minimum, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and microelectronics (including beyond Moore's Law). Questions of economic competitiveness may be considered when the U.S. economic position is crucial to national security concerns (e.g., maintaining DoD-available supply chains).
The committee will convene a series of meetings, including three workshops, to gather information and consider a broad range of views on the questions above. Drawing from the content of the workshops and other information sources, the committee will review current legal, regulatory, and policy regimes and prepare a consensus report with findings and recommendations.