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Building a 21st Century Bioeconomy

October 12, 2011 at 12:25 PM ET by Mary Maxon and Mike Stebbins
Summary: 
On September 16, President Obama announced that his Administration will develop a National Bioeconomy Blueprint detailing Administration-wide steps to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment.


JANUARY 17, 2012 UPDATE:  OSTP received 135 submissions in response to the Request for Information detailed below.

On September 16, President Obama announced that his Administration will develop a National Bioeconomy Blueprint detailing Administration-wide steps to harness biological research innovations to address national challenges in health, food, energy, and the environment. Biological research underpins the foundation of a significant portion of the Nation’s economy. By better leveraging America’s national investments in biological research and development, the Administration aims to stimulate the growth of high-wage, high-skill jobs while improving the lives of all Americans. OSTP has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit input from all interested parties on how best to develop the National Bioeconomy Blueprint.

The National Bioeconomy Blueprint will highlight Administration progress in this productive and promising scientific and economic arena and identify needs and goals, including:

  • strategies to meet grand challenges in lean budget times;
  • commercialization and entrepreneurship opportunities to open new markets;
  • research and development investments in areas that will provide the foundation for the bioeconomy;
  • enhancements of workforce training to prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers for the bioeconomy jobs of the future;
  • regulatory reforms that will reduce unnecessary burdens and impediments while protecting health and safety, and
  • bioeconomy public-private partnerships to accelerate innovation in key areas.

OSTP welcomes your ideas and invites your help prioritizing approaches to building the US bioeconomy. Please submit your responses electronically as an attachment to the e-mail address provided in the RFI by 11:59 p.m. ET on December 6, 2011. Do not include any information that might be considered proprietary or confidential. Responses to the RFI, including the names of the authors and their institutional affiliations, will be posted at a later date.

Mary Maxon is Assistant Director for Biological Research and Mike Stebbins is Assistant Director for Biotechnology at OSTP