Embrace Exponential Technologies or Risk Losing Scientific Discovery, Economic Competitiveness, and National Security
Breakthrough Technologies Offer Enormous Opportunity for Federal Leaders—If They Seize It
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+ Last year, Congress enacted a law directing the administration to establish a 10-year plan to accelerate the development of quantum information science and technology applications. The White House is in the process of developing this plan. The General Services Administration has created a program to test and pilot agency virtual and augmented reality projects, and the National Institutes of Health is working with other research organizations on precision medicine to enhance human health.
While these technologies vary in scope and purpose, Singularity University, an educational and innovation organization headquartered at the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, California, coined a phrase to describe them: “exponential technologies.” Defined by their exponential growth, these technologies double in power or speed each year, or their respective costs drop by half.
+ During this time of swift change, the government is taking steps to explore and leverage these emerging technologies. In February, President Trump issued an executive order to strengthen American leadership in artificial intelligence, asserting that the U.S. should “drive technological breakthroughs in AI across the federal government, industry and academia in order to promote scientific discovery, economic competitiveness, and national security.”
+ The world is in the midst of a technological revolution. Rapid developments in artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, edge and quantum computing, autonomous vehicles, precision medicine, nanotechnology and digital biology are transforming the way we live and work, creating new challenges and opportunities.
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