July 26, 2013 

M-13-16 

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES 

FROM: Sylvia Mathews BurweaJAA'b 

Director L.Y r \ 


Office ofManagement and Budget 


Dr. John P. Holdren 


Director 


Office of Science and Technology Policy 


SUBJECT: Science and Technology Priorities for the FY 2015 Budget 

Scientific discovery, technological breakthroughs, and innovation are the primary engines 

for expanding the frontiers ofhuman knowledge and are vital for responding to the challenges 

and opportunities ofthe 21st century. We look to scientific innovation to promote sustainable 

economic growth and job creation, improve the health of all Americans, move us toward a clean 

energy future, address global climate change, manage competing demands on environmental 

resources, and ensure the security ofthe Nation. Science and engineering research is a valuable 

source ofnew knowledge that has driven important developments in fields ranging from 

telecommunications to medicine, yielding high economic and social rates ofreturn and creating 

entirely new industries with highly-skilled, high-wage jobs. 

The Nation benefits from Federal government funding for basic and applied research in 

areas in which the private sector does not have the economic incentive to invest and a public 

benefit exists. This memorandum outlines the Administration's multi-agency science and 

technology priorities for formulating FY 2015 Budget submissions to the Office ofManagement 

and Budget (OMB). The priorities covered in this memo require investments in research and 

development (R&D); support for activities, such as STEM education, technology transfer, R&D 

facilities, and scientific data collection and management that enable a robust science and 

technology enterprise; and cooperation among multiple Federal agencies for success. They build 

on priorities reflected in this Administration's past budgets and documents, such as the 

President's Strategy for American Innovation. 

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Our budget challenges have only increased the President's resolve to work with Congress 

on restoring regular order and replacing sequestration with a balanced deficit reduction plan of 

additional spending cuts and sensible entitlement reforms coupled with revenue from tax reform. 

The FY 2014 Budget included such a balanced approach, with more than enough deficit 

reduction to cancel sequestration and restore discretionary funding to levels agreed to in the 

bipartisan Budget Control Act. The FY 2015 Budget should continue to build on the President's 

plan, by reducing spending on lower-priority programs in order to create room for effective 

investments in areas critical to economic growth and job creation, including education, · 

innovation, and research and development. 

More effective management strategies will be an important component of our overall 

approach to research and development budgeting. We look forward to working closely with the 

agencies to make the hard decisions that are necessary to reduce the deficit while investing in 

critical priorities, including research and development. Agencies engaged in complementary 

activities should consult with each other during the budget planning process so that resources are 

coordinated to maximize their impact and to avoid inappropriate duplication. They should also 

avoid duplicating research in areas that already receive funding from the private sector. 

Agencies should explain in their budget submissions how they are redirecting available resources 

from lower-priority areas to science and technology activities that address the priorities described 

below. Agency submissions must meet the requirements outlined in OMB's FY 2015 Budget 

Guidance memorandum M-13-14. 

Within research portfolios, Federal agencies are encouraged to identify and pursue clearly 

defined "Grand Challenges" - ambitious goals that require advances in science, technology and 

innovation to achieve, and to suppmt high-risk, high-return research. 

Agencies should consider increased international scientific cooperation and partnerships 

to address areas ofmutual interest, to advance the Administration's priorities in global health and 

global development, and to share the financial burden oflarge research projects. 

Agencies should also suppmt the research tools and infrastructure needed to ensure that 

U.S. science and engineering remain at the leading edge of discovery. Proposals for major new 

facilities must be consistent with Federal real property guidance and development, construction, 

and operations costs must be fully justified and balanced against funding for research activities 

and operations of existing facilities. Tools and infrastructure investments that leverage funding 

from multiple agencies or promote the sharing of costs and resources between public and private 

sector organization should be prioritized. 

The Administration is committed to increasing public access to the results of federally 

funded scientific research including data and publications that describe research findings. 

Consistent with the Executive Order on Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default 

for Government Information and the OSTP-issued Memorandum on Increasing Access to the 

Results ofFederally Funded Scientific Research, agencies should give priority to activities that 

significantly increase access to research results for all citizens. 

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Program guidance 

In accordance with OMB Circular A-ll and the GPRA Modernization Act of2010, 

agencies should describe the targeted outcomes of research and development (R&D) programs 

using meaningful, measurable, quantitative metrics where possible and describe how they plan to 

evaluate the success ofthose programs. 

Multi-agency priorities 

The Administration recognizes that agency-specific research needed to make progress 

toward agency missions is important. In the FY 2015 Budget, agencies should balance priorities 

to ensure resources are adequately allocated for agency-specific, mission-driven research while 

focusing resources, where appropriate, on addressing the following multi-agency research 

activities that cannot be addressed effectively by a single agency. 

Advanced manufacturing 

The Administration is committed to revitalizing and transforming America's 

manufacturing sector. Agencies should give priority to those programs that advance the state of 

the art in manufacturing, with particular emphasis on government-industry-university 

partnerships and enabling technologies (such as robotics, materials development, and cyberphysical systems) that benefit multiple sectors, as described in the National Strategic Plan for 

Advanced Manufacturing. Sustained support for nanotechnology R&D, particularly the five 

Nanotechnology Signature Initiatives in nanomanufacturing, solar energy, nanoelectronics, 

sensors, and nanoinformatics and modeling, is also important to the success of the 

Administration's advanced manufacturing agenda. 

Clean energy 

The Administration intends for the United States to lead the world in clean-energy 

technology R&D to help reduce air pollution, greenhouse-gas emissions, and dependence on oil, 

while creating high-wage, highly-skilled, clean-energy jobs and businesses. Agencies should 

give priority to R&D to advance clean-energy technologies; to improve the efficiency, 

sustainability, and cost-effectiveness oftransportation alternatives; to address the manufacturing 

challenges of clean-energy supply technologies; to increase energy efficiency in industry, 

buildings, and manufacturing; and for the next-generation electric grid. 

Global climate change 

Within the U.S. Global Change Research Program, agencies should continue to make 

progress toward fulfilling the 2012-2021 Strategic Plan. FY 2015 priority areas include better 

understanding ofthe causes and consequences of drought and the interaction of global-change 

impacts in the Arctic with climate in the mid-latitudes. Emphasis should also be given to 

research that enhances predictions of climate-related interactions among physical-biologicalhuman systems on seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. In improving the nation's ability to 

understand, assess and respond to climate-related risks and opportunities, agencies should 

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prioritize activities that strengthen the scientific basis for decisions about both mitigation of and 

adaptation to climate change and that enhance utility of data and tools for purposes such as 

catastrophe risk management in a non-stationary climate. 

R&D for informed policy-making and management 

Agencies, especially those with primary missions other than R&D, should give priority to 

R&D that strengthens the scientific basis for decision-making in their mission areas, including 

but not limited to health, safety, and environmental impacts. This includes efforts to enhance the 

accessibility and usefulness of data and tools for decision support, as well as research in the 

social and behavioral sciences to support evidence-based policy and effective policy 

implementation. Further, to help the Nation become more resilie11t to natural and technological 

disasters, agencies should focus investments on improving the delivery ofhazard information 

where and when it is needed, enhancing the understanding of the natural processes that produce 

hazards, developing better hazard mitigation strategies and technologies, reducing the 

vulnerability ofinterdependent critical infrastructure, improving assessments of disaster 

resilience, and promoting risk-informed behavior. 

Information Technology 

Agencies should give priority to investments that address the challenges of, and tap the 

opportunities afforded by, the Big Data revolution- the fast-growing volume of large and 

complex collections of digital data- to advance agency missions and further scientific discovery 

and innovation while providing appropriate privacy protections for personal data. Agencies 

should also prioritize research guided by the Trustworthy Cyberspace: Strategic Plan for 

Cybersecurity R&D Programs to develop technologies that can protect U.S. systems against 

current and future cyber-attacks, as well as research to advance technologies for spectrum 

sharing and more efficient use of spectrum. 

R&D for National-Security Missions 

National and Homeland Security and Intelligence mission agencies should invest in 

science and technology to meet the threats of the future and develop innovative new security 

capabilities. In order to provide cutting-edge capabilities to meet current and future mission 

requirements, national security agencies need to support a balanced portfolio of basic and applied 

research and advanced technology development. In particular, priority should be given to 

investments to develop capabilities in hypersonics, countering weapons of mass destruction, 

advanced computing, accelerated training, and handling large data sets for national-security 

mission requirements. 

Innovation in Biology and Neuroscience 

Agencies should give priority to R&D investments that have the potential to foster 

biological innovations in health, national security, energy, and agriculture, particularly in 

platform technologies as described in the Administration's 2012 National Bioeconomy Blueprint 

(e.g. technologies for the design of biological systems, understanding systems biology, and high4 

throughput biology), science and technology to support the goals of the National Strategy for 

Biosurveillance, and research at the interfaces of biology, physical sciences, and engineering. 

Agencies should also give priority to the President's BRAIN (Basic Research through Advancing 

Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative, and other priorities identified by the NSTC Interagency 

Working Group on Neuroscience, including the relationship between the brain and behavior, 

cognition, development, and learning. 

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education 

The President is committed to improving STEM education and to ensuring that Federal 

resources are aligned and directed to improve STEM outcomes and prepare a strong STEMcapable workforce. To support these goals, the Administration has proposed a bold STEM 

education reorganization and a comprehensive 5-Year Strategic Plan. As agencies develop 2015 

Budget proposals, they should align their STEM education investments with the goals ofthe 

reorganization and the Strategic Plan. This includes giving priority to programs that use evidence 

to guide program design and implementation and to define appropriate metrics and improve the 

measurement of outcomes. Agencies should also ensure that programs are designed to identify 

and effectively meet the needs of end-users- students, teachers, schools, districts and postsecondary institutions- while continuing to reduce STEM-education program fragmentation. 

In particular, agencies should consider building capacity and infrastructure to support and 

advance the reorganization and Strategic Plan goals. Agencies should improve coordination with 

other agencies and focus funding on priority STEM-education investment areas as identified in 

the Strategic Plan, including: improving STEM instruction and learning; increasing and 

sustaining youth and public engagement in STEM; enhancing the STEM experience of 

undergraduate students; providing STEM learning opportunities to groups historically 

underrepresented in STEM fields; and designing graduate education for tomorrow's STEM 

workforce. Agencies with a strong capacity to conduct rigorous evaluations and to build 

evidence should also give priority to R&D investments in the science and technology oflearning 

with the potential to significantly improve student learning outcomes in STEM subjects, such as 

digital tutors, learning analytics, simulations, games, and embedded assessment. 

Innovation and commercialization 

Agencies should promote innovation and commercialization from Federal R&D 

investments, where appropriate, through support for inducement prizes, fostering the transition of 

emerging scientific discoveries into engineering disciplines, early-stage technology development, 

university-industry-government-laboratory partnerships, leveraging of focused and coordinated 

investments in the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, and efforts to better 

link graduate and postdoctoral training with both private and public-sector workforce needs. 

Such efforts should be aligned with the Administration's Cross-Agency Priority Goal to improve 

perfmmance across Federal services for entrepreneurs and small businesses. 

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