Next Generation Research and Breakthrough Innovation Indicators from U.S. Academic Research 2007

Over the past few years, during discussions with thought leaders in academia about future research directions, my attention was drawn to a number of powerful and recurrent themes. Insights from these conversations, enhanced by examining recent changes in funding policy and new approaches to research, have illuminated a number of salient, unpredictable and sometimes disconcerting trends. It is clear to many that computing has become indispensable for creating scientific advances needed to solve immensely complex problems that are highly important to society. While the dramatic increases in computing power necessary to support this progress can no longer be taken for granted, serious global issues facing humanity are driving increasingly urgent requirements for accelerated innovation. As a result, multidisciplinary explorations are proliferating rapidly, while dramatic new strategies for riskier research are being devised to create breakthrough solutions. My analysis of these dynamic and startling trends, together with qualitative and quantitative evidence, form the basis and rationale for this talk.