The United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021 (USICA), formerly known as the Endless Frontier Act, passed into law on 8 June 2021. It authorizes $110 Billion for basic and advanced technology research over a five year period. It includes investment in:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- High performance computing, semiconductors, and advanced computer hardware
- Quantum computing and information systems
- Robotics, automation, and advanced manufacturing
- Natural or anthropogenic disaster prevention
- Advanced communications technology
- Biotechnology, genomics, and synthetic biology
- Advanced energy technology
- Cybersecurity, data storage, and data management technologies
- Materials science, engineering, and exploration relevant to the other focus areas
As part of the bill, the National Science Foundation is now named the National Science and Technology Foundation. It now has two deputy directors, one for science and one for technology.
The Deputy Director of Technology oversees a newly created Directorate for Technology whose goals include:
- Creation of stronger leadership in critical technologies through research in key technology focus areas;
- Improving education in key technology focus areas and making it more attractive for students to become involved in those areas;
- Increasing federally-funded research and development to achieve national goals related to economic competitiveness, domestic manufacturing, national security, shared prosperity, energy and the environment, health, education and workforce development, and transportation
As an indicator of how smart this law is, on June 9 2021, China criticized the bill as “full of Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.
