By Kritika Agarwal
Last December, AAU submitted a response to a request for information by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on steps and actions the Trump administration could take to accelerate the American scientific enterprise and enable groundbreaking discoveries.
In its response, AAU put forth several ideas for strengthening university-industry collaborations, accelerating the lab-to-market pipeline, harnessing the AI-enabled science revolution, streamlining federal research regulations, strengthening research security, and improving mechanisms for grantmaking and the evaluation of research outputs and impacts.
AAU also urged the administration to sustain and expand support for the existing innovation ecosystem that has helped the United States become a global leader in science and to reconsider budget cuts or policy changes that undermine it.
Here are some highlights from AAU’s response:
Strengthening Industry-Academic Collaboration in Basic Research
The AAU response argued that industry-academic partnerships that advance fundamental scientific knowledge yield significant advantages to both: “Industry gets access to basic research, talent, and scientific equipment it could not effectively access on its own, while academic research is informed by economic needs and societal benefits from the new knowledge generated.”
AAU noted that there are several existing programs at federal agencies that seek to catalyze these partnerships, including the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Centers, the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Research Centers, and the cross-agency Manufacturing USA program. These initiatives, AAU argued, have produced thousands of discoveries, licenses, spinoffs, and startups while training generations of STEM talent.
However, recent White House budget requests have sought to de‑prioritize many of these initiatives; AAU urged the administration to “sustain and expand” these programs instead of defunding them and to work with universities, industry, and national labs to identify best practices and streamline partnership models.
Accelerating the Lab-to-Industry Pipeline
AAU pointed out that “the current system of federal support for university research and development already delivers substantial public returns through new products, startups, jobs, and tax revenues.” A recent proposal by the administration to impose an “innovation tax” on university licensing royalties would decimate this system, the response noted, weakening university technology transfer offices, depressing startup formation, and ultimately shrinking the pool of successful innovations. AAU urged the administration to reject this proposal.
AAU also urged OSTP to support the creation of “an early-stage ‘phase 0’ proof-of-concept research program” that would “help university faculty to commercialize their research by providing them with additional resources and support to better understand potential applications and markets for their discoveries.” Funding for such a research program would allow researchers to demonstrate basic proof-of-concept and show that an idea, technology, or drug works as intended before seeking larger, costlier investments.
Supporting High-Risk, High-Reward Research
AAU argued that high-risk, high-reward research is uniquely suited to federal support because of its “typical mix of high project failure rates and high-impact successes.”
It noted that the federal government already has several existing vehicles for supporting high-risk, high-reward research – the ARPA-style agencies at various departments, for example, that “champion exceptionally bold and innovative science that pushes the boundaries of research.” Unfortunately, these agencies have also been deprioritized in recent budget proposals, AAU noted, urging the administration to “support these programs as part of a balanced research portfolio.” AAU also suggested expanding the use of risk as an award criterion in select funding opportunities.
Harnessing AI-Enabled Science
AAU applauded the administration for its recent efforts to build or expand AI-enabled science capabilities, including its recent AI Action Plan, support for the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot, and the Genesis Mission. AAU stressed that universities are key partners to these efforts because of their research excellence, domain expertise, data resources, and education mission.
AAU encouraged OSTP to focus on improving research access to secure federal data; updating the Federal Data Strategy with AI readiness in mind; fully funding the NAIRR pilot at the roughly $440 million per year level recommended by its task force; and supporting advanced computing centers at universities to narrow the computation gap with industry.
On workforce issues, AAU’s response advocated for discipline-specific AI training, bootcamps, fellowships, and scholarships; more mobility between academia, national labs, and industry; and better federal data and analysis to understand AI talent needs and build a national talent roadmap.
Finally, AAU also suggested that OSTP harmonize research security policies across federal agencies and warned against political interference in merit-based federal grantmaking.
Many other scientific, technology, and higher-education organizations also submitted responses to OSTP’s request, hitting similar themes. The agency has not announced what its next steps will be, but said in the RFI text that the responses “will inform the formulation of Executive branch efforts to advance and maintain U.S. S&T [science and technology] leadership.”
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.