118th Congress: Emerging Tech & Competitiveness

全球对先进技术领导力的竞争非常激烈。中国继续在科学和工程学科中建立奖学金能力，已经超过了美国知识和技术密集型制造，并且在美国高跟鞋上很热研发投资的全球领导。In the U.S., domestic manufacturing jobs have enjoyeda recent surge，，，，but the U.S. trade deficit in high technology stood at nearly $200 billion in 2021, andappears set to far surpass that this year。

The federal government has played an historic role in fostering basic science and the development of critical technologies like the Internet and GPS, and federal investmentshave helped drive manufacturing and high-tech cluster developmentfor nearly a century. In light of that role, the 118ThCongress should act decisively to sustain America’s competitive edge in industries of the future.

研发政策。新国会可以采取的最重要的步骤是确保robust appropriationsfor the array of科学与创新计划authorized in the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. New and ongoing activities in agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science (SC), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Commerce will drive scientific excellence, STEM talent, and industrial competitiveness in key areas like advanced communications, materials, semiconductors, and others.

Congress should also continue to build out Manufacturing USA, a network of非常有效public-private innovation institutes serving defense, energy, life sciences, and other sectors. In addition to CHIPS-authorized funding boosts, the美国制造业网络可以增强通过区域示范中心，将美国工人技能与行业需求和其他步骤保持一致的人才计划。

As Congress invests, lawmakers should also seek out opportunities to fund alternative, novel models for research including, for example,focused research organizations（弗罗斯）或institutes for independent scholarship。While the federal science enterprise remains an engine of discovery and progress, new ways of doing science can foster untapped creativity and let scientists and engineers tackle new problems or come up with unforeseen breakthroughs. For instance, the CEO-led FRO model is intended to facilitate mid-scale research projects to produce new public goods (like technologies, techniques, processes, or datasets) that in turn have a catalyzing effect on productivity in the broader science enterprise. Congress should work with agencies to create space and find opportunities to foster such novel approaches.

Congress could also considerlegislative reforms to empower national labsto innovate and commercialize cutting-edge technology. For instance, legislation could extend Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) authority to allow for public-private research facilities on surplus federal lands, or create a federally chartered technology transfer organization inspired by similar models at effective universities. Such capabilities would further leverage the labs as engines for regional innovation.

创新与企业家精神。新代表大会有机会通过新的资金和公私合作伙伴关系来投资关键技术，从而推动前沿技术公司的增长。国会还可以投资更广泛的生态系统，以使创新可持续，扩大创新地理位置并支持公平获得机会。这种投资将继续国会在2022年建立的势头。

这一势头的主要要素是两党对《两党筹码与科学法》第10621条授权的区域技术和创新集线器计划的支持。该计划旨在催化和扩大美国新兴地区的高科技行业集群，在筹码的五年内已授权为100亿美元，并在迄今为止的拨款中获得了5亿美元的首付。现在，第118届国会应该继续并扩大支持，同时更加普遍地建立基于地点和可持续的基础设施，该基础设施促进了深远的技术和艰难的技术行业，例如生物经济，高级制造和清洁能源。

此外，国会应找到通过建立和资助技术领域的早期公司支持早期公司的方法Frontier Tech consortium或aDeep Tech capital fund协调跨政府公共投资agencies. This would ensure that government funding is used efficiently to spur private investment in early stage frontier tech companies within critical national industrial base areas.

人工智能。随着AI技术的前进，政府需要安全有效地利用它们。国会应包括National Framework for AI Procurement在下一个NDAA中，建立了一个标准化的过程，用于审核供公共使用的AI应用程序，与2020年的行政命令“在联邦政府中促进可信赖的人工智能使用”。To protect the privacy and security of those using or affected by all AI products, this framework should include a strategy for investing in and deploying保护隐私的机器学习（ppml）。

Space Innovation。尽管一些NASA语言被包括在芯片和科学中，但太空行业的创新并没有得到更多的关注。第118号应通过特别关注投资和政策改革来提高美国在太空领域创新的能力来解决这一问题。潜在的机会是巨大的：空间可能会变成a trillion-dollar sector中世纪之前。

Multiple areas are ripe for action. One is in the area of orbital debris. There are thousands of pieces of space junk now in low-earth orbit – often emerging from defunct satellites or collisions – and these pose a substantial hazard to commercial space operations as well as U.S. national security. To deal with this issue, Congress could work with relevant agencies including the Departments of Defense and Commerce to develop and fund an对太空碎片的高级市场承诺to incentivize solutions via the possibility of investment returns. Congress could also take another run at太空行为的想法这些内容被排除在最终的筹码和科学文本之外，以使公民空间情境意识（S.S.A.）与商务部进行编纂，并授权为S.S.S.A.创建一个或多个卓越中心。

国会还应与政府合作，推进空间内部维修，组装和制造业（ISAM），这是一套新兴的能力套件，为未来的太空经济提供了实质性的上涨空间。白宫已经释放ISAM策略andimplementation plan，，，，but substantial action is still needed, and Congress can provide leadership and support in this area. For example, Congress can work with NASA to create an高级太空架构程序，该公司将根据公私财团模型运作，以追求为美国太空领域开发新技术能力的任务。国会还可以鼓励联邦机构和白宫在新兴ISAM部门开发公共路线图，目标和所需能力的公共路线图，并致力于在关键机构预算请求中建立特定于ISAM的资金楔形，以更好地跟踪相关投资，以更好地跟踪相关投资拨款决定。

Appropriations Recommendations

• 芯片与科学：微电子研究（Micro Act）。为了推动美国科学与创新在微电子和半导体方面，第10731条授权建立在国家实验室和其他机构的微电子科学研究中心网络，在2024财年授权2500万美元，更广泛的能源部能源部的微型电子研究计划，为100美元。2024财年百万。这是美国技术领导力的重要投资。
• CHIPS and Science: Entrepreneurial Fellowships.NSF is a vital cog in the non-medical university research ecosystem. In addition to最高资金增加，，，，CHIPS also authorized several smart programs that should receive appropriations within a rising NSF topline overall. One of these is theEntrepreneurial Fellowships programwithin the newly established technology directorate (Section 10392). The fellowship program, which去年秋天正式推出，，，，is intended to provide scientists with entrepreneurial training to help shift ideas from lab to market or forge connections between academia, investors, and government. The program is authorized at $125 million over five years, and Congress should ensure robust support.
• 如上所述，迄今为止，国会为拨款提供了5亿美元的拨款Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Program,以及2亿美元Recompete Pilot Program,类似的实体程序集中on distressed regions and communities. The CHIPS and Science Act authorized these programs at $10 billion and $1 billion respectively, and if past experience is any indication, demand for support from local cluster development teams will far exceed the supply of appropriations provided thus far. To that end, Congress should continue to fund these programs through FY 2024 appropriations: at least by replicating the earlier appropriations figures of $500 million and $200 million, and ideally by getting as close to the authorized amounts as possible. Catalytic investments from the federal government are critical to the early growth of ecosystem efforts, and this program’s continuation would be a continued force in creating greater economic opportunity in communities across the nation.
• 国会应资助Competitiveness Policy Council(authorized under the Competitiveness Policy Council Act, 15 U.S.C. §4801 et seq.) to provide future recommendations to the president on manufacturing competitiveness. This council should assemble an independent advisory group composed of business, labor, and government leaders to develop policy recommendations that benefit the workforce across their sectors, like President Reagan’s Commission on Industrial Competitiveness.