J. Colliander's Notes on AAAS talk by OSTP Director Dr. Arati Prabakhar

• Introduction
  • Thanks
  • Reason for reentering public service when President Joe Biden asked
    • "possibilities" is the word that Biden thinks best describes America
    • "prove democracy works" is a giant challenge for today
    • This nexus of possibility + success of American democracy draws Prabakhar to the challenge of serving as OSTP Director and a member of the Biden Cabinet
  • Recent political achievements advance the science and technology ecosystem
    • Climate investment through the inflation reduction act
    • bipartisan support for the infrastructure investment
    • CHIPS and Science act; restore leadership in semiconductor manufacturing
  • Role of science and technology in the USA
    • "We the people" can make and remake our nation
    • "justice, domestic tranquilty, national defence" are goals advanced through science and technology
      • reseach and innovation have been integral to the national story
      • railroads, highways, transistors, satellites, …
      • the federal system is an ecology for this progress
    • Key call to action: Science and Technolology changes what is possible; Science and technology is a doorway through which we can walk into a better tomorrow
    • USA has a massive and robust system supporting science and technology
      • $700B
      • structures have developed organically and through direct methods
      • evolution from work in last century by Vannevar Bush, the architect of our nation's science innovation system. Would Bush beam at what we've built following his catalyzing influence?
    • We have major challenges and aspirations
      • Health outcomes?
      • Climate pessimism?
      • Fading American dream?
      • Global stability and security?
      • Competitive industries and robust supply chains
      • Robust democracy
    • "America will lead with the power of its example"
    • What is "our why?" Why do we work to advance science and technology?
      • We must open doors to scale the power of our advances to match the size of our problems.
      • We must open doors so the pace of our progress matches the urgency of the challenges we face.
      • This is what the science and technology ecosystem does: we make a better tomorrow possible
• Three Shifts we need to make
  • 1. Build a "what does it take?" mindset
    • Ecosystem is built to reward individuals more than to to achieve target milestones.
    • Making a contribution as an individual is nice but finding ways so that we can work together to make transformational achievements is the "what does it take?" change in thinking we need now.
    • Examples
      • Cancer moonshot (NASA has transformed the ways national aspiration is defined! 🚀)
        • Goal: reduce age-adjusted cancer death rate by half
        • improve experiences for cancer patients and families
        • Goals here require improvements in prevention, a change in focus for each individual in the system to think about overall outcomes instead of localized task completion
      • CHIPS bill
        • Leadership in semiconductor manufacturing is heavily concentrated in a single country in a vulnerable region
        • CHIPS aims to reignite the virtuous cycle: leading edge R&D
          $⟺$ industrialization
      • Quantify value of natural assets ❤️
        • OSTP working on this with Department of Commerce and other federal partners
        • Not just driven by climate change
        • What is the value of barrier islands in protecting coast lines against storm surge?
        • What is the value of biodiversity, think of pollinators supporting agriculture, in the economy?
        • Current approaches to business place zero value on nature while nature is vital to the success of business; quantifying the value of nature enables businesses to make better decisions that properly value the role nature plays
    • This "what does it take?" mindset is not just about commercialization. It's about standards, incentive systems, new policies, working together to achieve what we aspire
  • 2. Equity
    • Our aim to achieve better outcomes for all Americans
      • expanded efforts to improve STEM education
      • various regional innovation initiatives
    • We work to improve equity in science and technology because it is the right thing to do
    • Advances in data science are enabling measurable improvements in equity and the ensuing impacts for society
      • data, combined with computing and ideas from the social sciences, enable us to measure our progress and iteratively improve like never before
      • equitable data work at OSTP
  • 3. Understand societal impact of innovation
    • innovation alone is amoral; need to make deliberate choices to ensure positive outcomes for Americans
    • example: AI & Data
      • serious risks to privacy and security
      • equal opportunity and civil rights
      • OSTP has a blueprint AI Bill of Rights
    • We need to shift to consider and design our scientific innovation to achive societal benefits
• Why will we succeed?
  • We are nimble and capable
  • Our capacity, through public and private mechanisms, is massive. Recent bills and past examples of mobilizing capital are shining examples
  • The depth of our values
    • USA is built on the idea that we can fail, get back up again, and succeed.
    • USA is built on the idea that every individual matters and can contribute.