NIST Strategy for American Technology Leadership in the 21st Century

The United States is in a battle for global leadership in the critical and emerging technologies (CETs) that will drive decades of national and economic security and prosperity. To ensure U.S. global dominance in the industries of the future, we need to act now to advance the president’s stated agenda to secure the U.S. position as the unrivaled world leader in CETs.

Overview

With the NIST mission rooted in the U.S. Constitution — “The Congress shall have Power ... To fix the Standard of Weights and Measures” — NIST has developed and maintained key standards to advance trust in measurement and technology in service to the nation since 1901. As the nation’s premier laboratory with the mission to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness, NIST is poised to work with industry at every step to support U.S. manufacturing and technological capacity in CETs, including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, biotechnology, semiconductors, and next-generation communications. Over the next four years, NIST is committed to advancing American innovation and industrial competitiveness through four interdependent strategic priorities:

Accelerate Innovation in Critical and Emerging Technologies of the Future 

In alignment with the president’s science and technology agenda, NIST will focus investment in four key areas, including AI, quantum technologies, biotechnology, and semiconductors. To achieve this strategic priority, NIST will unleash U.S. manufacturing productivity and accelerate the creation of new measurement technologies and services.

Accelerate the Buildout and Scale-Up of the U.S. Quantum Industrial Base

NIST will advance U.S. quantum sector leadership by partnering with stakeholders, entrepreneurs, and experts to accelerate quantum system manufacturing and development. NIST will accelerate:

• Manufacturing of new quantum sensors.
• Manufacturing of scalable, high-performance quantum components. 
• Development of quantum networks (QG-Networking), including deployable atomic clocks.

Solidify American Dominance in AI Innovation

NIST will catalyze American AI innovation by partnering with industry to accelerate development and adoption of AI systems and applications. NIST will accelerate:

• Development and adoption of AI-driven autonomous agents for increased U.S. manufacturing productivity.
• Development and adoption of AI-based agents to protect and secure U.S. critical infrastructure from cyberthreats. 
• Adoption of American AI products by driving consistency in the measurement of AI system performance, reliability, and security.
• U.S. capacity to rapidly evaluate AI system capabilities to promote American AI innovation.

Harness the Power of Biotechnology

NIST will unlock the potential of biotechnology and biomanufacturing to solve U.S. industry challenges in developing new therapeutics, making new products at scale, and creating a resilient supply chain. NIST will partner with U.S. industry to accelerate:

• U.S.-based adoption of emerging biotechnologies and development of biomanufactured products. 
• Drug development and manufacturing of new fit-for-purpose biological reference materials and reference data. 
• Development of AI-enhanced biotechnology solutions.

Grow U.S. Leadership in Semiconductors

Semiconductors are essential building blocks of the technologies that will shape our future. To ensure U.S. leadership in semiconductors, NIST will partner with U.S. industry to accelerate:

• Development of semiconductor technologies to enhance U.S. competitiveness. 
• Semiconductor innovation to overcome R&D ecosystem gaps. 
• Development of critical innovations for advanced packaging technologies and their scaled transition to U.S. manufacturing entities. 
• Delivery of industry-focused digital twin technology.

Bolster American Leadership in Standards

NIST will continue to champion the United States’ industry-led, market-driven, and voluntary approach to international standards development, securing American companies as leaders in the global marketplace, stimulating American economic prosperity and global trade, and catalyzing U.S. leadership in the industries of the future. NIST will leverage its unique research and standards expertise to work with the private sector to advance American strength and agility in international standards development, especially within sectors of national importance. NIST will accelerate:

• U.S. engagement and leadership in international standards for CETs. 
• Development and adoption of science-based standards for CETs to promote U.S. trade. 
• Strategic engagement, participation, and leadership in international standards bodies.
• Standards policy coordination across the U.S. government.

Accelerate the Commercial Adoption of U.S. Innovations

Gold standard science, national security, and economic security require that the best discoveries from scientific labs are adopted in commercial markets. To achieve global leadership in the technologies of the future, NIST will accelerate:

• Adoption and commercialization of federally funded scientific discoveries and technology advancements in CETs at the pace of industry. 
• Strategic assessments of U.S. industrial opportunities and needs. 
• Advancement of the U.S. innovation ecosystem for the 21st century through policy reforms.

Build 21st Century Research Infrastructure to Unleash CET Innovation

Accelerating U.S. leadership and competitiveness in CETs requires world-class laboratory and utility infrastructure to fulfill the demands of the most advanced measurements. Upon availability of funds, NIST will invest in modernizing its aging facilities to provide the high-performance physical, computing, and networking capabilities and the advanced research equipment critically needed to drive U.S. innovation and global competitiveness in the 21st century, as well as recruit and retain the very best scientific talent. To achieve the impact of CET acceleration efforts, NIST will:

• Construct world-class facility infrastructure and equip NIST with the required laboratory environments to drive innovation in CETs. 
• Create a scalable utilities infrastructure for both the Gaithersburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado, campuses.