Endless Frontier Act

Endless Frontier Act

This bill redesignates the National Science Foundation as the National Science and Technology Foundation and establishes a Directorate for Technology within the foundation.

The goals of the directorate shall be to (1) strengthen U.S. leadership in critical technologies through fundamental research in key technology focus areas, such as artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and advanced manufacturing; (2) enhance U.S. competitiveness in the focus areas by improving education in such areas and attracting more students to such areas; and (3) foster the impact of federally funded research and development through accelerated translation of advances in the focus areas into processes and products that help achieve national goals.

The Department of Commerce shall carry out a program to designate and support eligible consortia as regional technology hubs that facilitate activities that (1) enable U.S. leadership in a key technology focus area, and (2) support regional economic development that diffuses innovation capacity around the United States.

The Office of Science and Technology Policy, Commerce, the National Security Council, and other relevant federal agencies shall (1) review the national security strategy and programs and resources pertaining to U.S. national competitiveness in science, research, and innovation to support such strategy; and (2) develop a strategy for the federal government to improve such competitiveness to support the national security strategy.