Promoting the Progress of Science

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foreign good morning to all of you and what a great presentation to follow you know when I look at what Fabian was talking about you think about the depths of the ocean and then he contextualize it to what happens in the outer space and then you look at the environment here on a planet Earth and then you look at what happens inside the body on body and you can look at everything in terms of Technology the scientific underpinnings of the technology you'll find the imprints of NSF in all of that I often say that if you look at your handheld devices there are probably 30

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000 projects of NSF that led to that device that you hold every day now and interact with it so that's what NSF does NSF unleashes Talent ideas Innovation and I always say it's at the end of the day it's all about the people and today I'm going to talk about this topic of innovation anywhere opportunities everywhere this is something that I've been deeply passionate about having come from a state a smaller State myself and seen firsthand what happens when you give opportunities for the unbelievable talent that is all across our nation then amazing things can happen so I'm going to walk you quickly to the journey of NSF a little bit NSF was founded by this amazing scientist van ever Bush 73 years ago when he or 75 plus years ago when he wrote this amazing treatment called science the endless Frontier to then President Roosevelt and said coming out of World War II what might we do with an

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agency that can advance science Advanced science not just for the sake of science but with the objective of how science can impact every aspect of Our Lives advancing human health Prosperity welfare how might that then also secure the nation in terms of National Defense and this is the mission statement of NSF I often would say that such a brilliant scientist set out a mission statement in these days when mission statements have to be changed every few years as a new leader comes on board this mission statement has stood the test of time today if you take this mission statement and try to see if there is anything that you would do different any word that you will change nada nothing because this mission statement is so current today as it was 72 years ago and that's the Brilliance of this amazing scientist whenever Bush so what I'm going to do is talk about the NSF of the future very very quickly walk you through that one of the gifts I

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have apparently is even though I may be unintelligible I can speak fast so therefore I can cover a lot more at least I would have their satisfaction whether you receive it or not but that's your problem so there are three things that NSF is focused on right now how do we take the unbelievable work of Vanessa for the last seven decades and how do we strengthen its speed and scale so that we might release on May unleash many more Innovations and many more people that have essentially made the difference in this in this nation and across the globe I call it strengthening the established NSF let's talk about establishment for a moment what is there to show for let's take one metric the metric of Nobel laureates nsfs made possible close to 200 and 20 Nobel laureates the only agency in the nation the only agency anywhere on planet Earth that is responsible for that level of ideas inspiration and

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unleashing this amazing talent it is those people that make it happen but NSF invests in their early ideas as they even start their career I'm so excited today that I see the community schools of Naples students that I met with first thing in the morning because I always want to meet those unbelievable Talent if you all rise up please I think we I mean this is the amazing talent this is the future folks these are the future Nobel laureates that are sitting right here it's truly a truly an exciting thing for me and to see a teacher like Lisa Bryce inspiring her that's what we need thousands and thousands and thousands let's say millions of Lisa prizes to inspire these millions and hundreds of millions of children all across the nation that's what is going to strengthen this NSF and what NSF makes possible therefore strengthening the nation and therefore making possible Grand Challenge Solutions all across the globe

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the central priority for me at NSF at this point in time is how might we make sure that there is no Talent left behind for far too long we have left a lot of talent across the geography of our nation whether it's rural urban across the broad socio-economic demographic of our nation or across a rich diversity of our nation we are leaving too much talent behind this is unacceptable for a nation to move forward with that kind of an approach we cannot must not all write that anymore we have to inspire those missing Millions we have to make those invisible Talent visible this is something that we all have to take together collectively as the mission moving forward and NSF is deeply committed to that endeavor the third thing while NSF has shown amazing progress and I'm going to show you a sort of a visual of how nsf's contributions can be visualized

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but I can tell you NSF not only makes possible fundamental discoveries whatever that might be but it also makes possible translation of those discoveries into unbelievable products services companies and solving Grand Challenge problems and solutions to them and therefore when I came to NSF I said we have to make this much more strong much more explicit much more intentional with much more intensity and so when I came to NSF we launched a new directorate called the Technology Innovation and Partnerships directorate or the tip directorate so that it can tip the balance and that it will be a cross-cutting directorate and folks this is the first new drug trade in 31 years at NSF and it's about time that we have such a directorate that takes the unbelievable Innovations coming out of the direct rates in sciences and engineering and how to be working with industry rapidly translate

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those into amazing inventions and Innovations but even more importantly how do those interactions then inform the great work that happens in physics and chemistry and biology and computer science and engineering social behavioral economic sciences and a whole host of more geosciences biosciences how might those then Inspire even more Innovations at speed and scale so this moment therefore is about I call strengthening at speed and scale so in order to explain this best kept secret NSF I decided to Concord this term called the DNA of NSF so that people can understand that what NSF does on the one hand NSF makes possible curiosity driven Discovery based Explorations yes if there is a black hole Discovery if you go ask somebody which agency do you think would have made that possible they would say NSF of course but that is not just what NSF makes

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possible alone as important as that is NSF also makes possible use Inspired Solutions focused Innovations or translations and that these are not part of a pipeline as people would make you to believe that this is basic research this is applied research this is translational research and then you get some kind of an Innovative outcome these are highly synergistic and symbiotic Explorations make possible translations Renovations in turn Innovations make possible more Explorations this richness of the symbiosis is what makes NSF a unique agency an agency that sort of propels forward through decades and decades are the many examples of that I'll probably go through a few if there is time that richness is captured to this DNA conceptualization of the synergistic symbiotic relationship and that's what makes possible Innovation everywhere and therefore opportunities everywhere this is a defining moment there's a lot of skepticism cynicism about oh how how is

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science going to be viewed this and that I can tell you with no you know doubt at all with absolute certainty this moment has got total bipartisan support for the advancement of Science and Technology and Innovation for our nation I Walk The Halls of Congress I I go around with all the Senators and Congressman women I interact with them go with them to their districts and do this I can tell you there is unbelievable enthusiasm and absolute certainty that this is how we're going to move our nation forward and make possible great things for our citizens and solve real challenges but this moment is not only not only with bipartisan support this moment is also challenging us to make sure that we solve the problem of missing Millions and you hear a lot about global competition forming Global competition is very simply this it's inspiring us it's motivating us it's pushing us even harder to be even more excellent than we have ever been that's what Global

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competition is about it's not about the competitor it's about us and therefore how might NSF and NSF partnering with other agencies and as a partnering with industry and as a partnered with everything possible K-12 systems Community College systems University Systems Economic Development systems State cities how might we hyper partner so that we might deliver the outcomes in this moment that is challenging us to do better more faster so if you talk about Technologies I know you're all here to anxious to hear about Technologies so I'm just going to not you know disappoint you but tell you that there are many many technological areas that we are advancing and I call it always NSF makes possible not only the industries of the future but also the future of the industries of the Future these terms that you hear about let's pick AI for example AI has been an investment of NSF NSF is the largest almost 80 percent of

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non-defense funding in Computing research is by NSF the last five to six six Decades of NSF investment in AI is what is made possible AI of today let's not forget that AI didn't just happen magically or machine learning didn't happen magically my own area of research didn't happen magically it's a sustained investment over several decades and that's what is important to keep in mind while we might find some translations happening within a decade some even less than a decade but many happens over decades whether it is quantum whether it is AI and I'll go through a few of those examples these are the kinds of technologies that we are looking at today as industries of today and tomorrow but NSF is also I just want to make sure that it's very very clear so when I came to NSF we are about to launch these AI institutes and I said that AI institutes have to touch every part of our nation have to be inspiring every part of our nation has to be drawing upon talent and ideas from every part of our nation whether it is a

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casual inspiration Community College inspiration research inspiration industry inspiration it's got to embrace all Inspirations in order that we might do better for ourselves today I'm proud to say and that to doing it with Partnerships I'm proud to say that after two rounds of AI Institute Investments 40 states of our nation in the District of Columbia are already participating with many minority serving institutions as well as the Exemplar institutions that you would think about Industries in fact industry co-funding a Consortium of Intel Accenture Amazon Google co-investing with us guess what the two centers two Institute of the first seven and two more Institutes of the next level were totally funded by the U.S department of Agriculture because it is AI for agriculture not only are we advancing fundamental ideas of AI into the future but we're looking at what applications of AI can unleash the possibilities of AI into the future and

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so these are examples of some of those AI institutes and AI farms at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign which I visited not too long ago with Senator Durbin is an excellent example of how do you unleash AI Innovations for ensuring that we have amazing agricultural outcomes to the smart agriculture whether it's a supply chain issue whether it is a labor issue or whether it is a soil regeneration issue you can think of the spectrum of things that you can think about in agriculture as problems that AI based approaches that can unleash new Innovations and possibilities is something that this institute is engaged in I'm not going to read the slides for you because I know that you're all much smarter than me likewise the second round of Institutes has an AI Institute focusing on engaging AI for learning how might we enhance learning outcomes through new approaches that AI makes possible quantum

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how might this possibilities of quantum the possibility of quantum Computing Quantum networking the new generation of quantum devices Quantum sensing how might we unleash that possibility through the NSF Quantum Leap challenge institutes that we have launched in partnership with Department of energy and I'm Amazed by the interdisciplinary inspiration that are brought together in in terms of advancing the quantum Futures and Quantum foundries how might an eighth grader in rural Montana touch the quantum Foundry and be inspired by it so they might then become the future Quantum researcher or the quantum scientist or a Quantum skill technical work for a worker so these are the kinds of things that we're working on with programs like expand qisc how do we increase the research capacity how do we increase the skill technical Workforce capacity so NSF is engaged in a broad spectrum of things I'm just going to tell the story of Ginkgo bioworks and biotechnology I'm going to tell you the story of Ginkgo bio Works to tell you the imprint of NSF all the way to the chain

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Jason Kelly was a graduate student at MIT with reshma Shetty in early 2000s engaged in synthetic biology research at MIT working with their advisors Tom Knight and Drew ND they were supported by the NSF graduate research fellowship program in mid-2000s do Indian Tom Knight sent a proposal for a research center for synthetic biology engineering called Sandberg Center and Jason andresma were part of that NSF supported the research center also latter part of 2000s they spun out a company the 200 to two graduate students spun out a company called Ginkgo bio works with their advisor Tom Knight they came to NSF for the small business Innovation research Grant and they succeeded in that in phase one and then they came back and it phase two and 2A and 2B and then went on and secured other kinds of small business Innovation research investments from other agencies too and today it is a six billion dollar

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company operating out of Boston Massachusetts people ideas inspiration impact everything made possible all the way through the Investments of NSF so I just want that to be sort of registered because it is not just only about as I said early ideas but that's what it is it's about unleashing Innovation anywhere across our nation and how do we do that we do that by accelerating public-private Partnerships at a much higher level of intensity than we have ever been how might we accelerate public-private Partnerships there are many many examples platforms or Advanced Wireless researchers 100 million dollar partnership with 35 Advanced wireless companies working together to see how might we advance the future of 6G 10g whatever that might be the next G so that we might get there a lot more secure with the aspects of security privacy and other things being incorporated as part of the thinking about the future G in the interest of time because the clock is running down likewise how do we enable Pathways to entrepreneurship through programs like

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The Innovation core program the entrepreneurial fellowship program that we launched as part of the new tip directorate and just last week we announced as accelerating research translation 16 million dollar program how do we empower the institutions to be able to take those fantastic ideas that students and faculty generate and rapidly translate them how do we invest in those so that we might produce those impactful outcomes at speed and scale the lab to Market platforms which I talked about the SBR and sctr this is a latest bot of a company called Blue River technology in California these are the kinds of Innovations you have to really see them I know we hear about Google and Amazon as good as they are and as important as they are these kinds of companies are really transforming the way we are looking at the future so when it came to NSF I said Innovation as I told you should be anywhere Across the Nation how do we ensure that so we created this new program called Regional Innovation engines soliciting ideas how might we create the bellab like constructs through

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public-private Partnerships around thematic topics place-based innovation what can be good in Naples or in Florida what can be good in the in the region of Nebraska Iowa Indiana Kansas and Illinois where would you have the next Bell lab and AG of Agriculture other than in that location surrounded by industry as one area where you can have the best ideas in agriculture than the Heartland right there how might we generate this unbelievable ecosystems of prosperity around place-based innovation ideas so we sent out this call folks we got 670 concept papers every state every territory of our nation is represented here this demonstrates to me that ideas and talent are democratized this is a proof point of ideas and being democratized how might we energize these innovative ideas so we might build this large Innovation ecosystems we are now looking at the regional Innovation engines type 2 program which 160 million

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dollar scale program so we can actually start to unleash these ideas into amazing Innovative ecosystems and therefore Economic Development ecosystems working in partnership with Commerce with my dear partner Secretary General Armando while we're doing that I said opportunity should be everywhere how do we unleash the future stem Workforce so we have a number of programs that we have launched recently excellent program is an internship program the ate program at that technology education program is about skill sets development and curriculum around the emerging skill set that needs to be developed in community colleges and other Technical Training colleges and and two year and four-year colleges how might we build the future technical expertise here it is just as an example in the last few months a 10 million dollar partnership with Micron to generate the workforce of the future when we talk about ships and science act and bringing back the semiconductor expertise and advanced manufacturing ideas and the future of semiconductoring 10 million partnership with Intel 50 million fused initiatives that we launched in partnership with Samsung IBM

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Ericsson how might we move forward and and in town how might we move forward in those areas and so these are the kinds of intense Partnerships that we need to engage in at scale so we can actually deliver for the nation at much more speed and I was the president and Intel is going to build a Workforce of the future right here in Ohio as you already heard Intel committed 50 million dollars to partner with the community colleges and universities like Ohio State University including Central State University the only historically black University in Ohio to build a pipeline for students in the semiconductor industry the Director of National Science Foundation is here Dr Ponch he's here in if and Intel are going to invest 50 million each to support these kinds of Partnerships how might we unleash these kinds of

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Innovations everywhere everywhere rural urban all 50 states we have got to do this yes we have to empower what's happening in Silicon Valley what's happening in Austin what's happening in Kendall's choir and do a lot more but that alone is not sufficient it has to happen everywhere across our nation and as Fabian said the time is now and we need to get this done and that's the urgency and that's why this Partnership of working with all sectors and unleashing this is a great priority for NSF and I hope that all of you will join in this partnership because we need every one of you and that's why I'm here Randy thank you so much for inviting me and putting this amazing event together and I hear you've been doing this for many years kudos to you but this is about Partnership if we really want to get this done folks it cannot be done by NSF alone that's why I

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say that underpinning of nsf's work is partnership partnership Partnership of every kind of every type of every mode with everyone all the way ranging from the Lisa prices the teachers that are inspiring the students to the K-12 students to working with Sesame Street and seeing how we might Inspire Pre-K how might we do this this is a kind of partnership that we need of every type all the way and its lifelong learning as we all know it is not about pipelines anymore it's about Pathways people can come in go out come in go out and all of you that are here as I'm seeing you have a lot more possibilities to go back and get your new degrees now if you don't believe this my father at the age of 81 having been a PhD in an astrophysicist went back and did a master's in history at 81. back in India we have got a lot of time folks to do like amazing things and that's what is

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is being made possible today is being made possible today that we can have this lifelong learning aspirations realized and that you can contribute your inspiration in all the ways in which our nation can be in the Vanguard and continue to Leap Forward in the Vanguard of innovation and that's what we all have to collectively Endeavor to do I seek all your partnership and your ideas Bring It On and my name is punch and my email is s panchan spa and Cha nsf.gov if you have a good idea if you would like to partner send it to me I read all my emails of my folks and sometimes they respond to thank you very much for the opportunity to be with all of you today