White House budget emphasizes R&D; NIST set for big boost

President Obama's budget request for the coming fiscal year would collectively direct $140.8 billion toward federal research and development spending, an amount the White House says would increase civilian R&D spending by 5 percent from current fiscal year spending.

Part of the R&D increase would include the creation of a new $1 billion National Network for Manufacturing Innovation mandatory spending fund controlled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and a $300 million Wireless Innovation Fund, also controlled by NIST.

In all, NIST--the federal government's physical science laboratory--does well under the White House request, although congressional willingness may prove to be another matter. It has rejected past Obama administration attempts to create a Wireless Innovation Fund and gave NIST current year appropriations totaling only three quarters of the request.

Also included in the proposed R&D bump is the National Science Foundation, which would see it's total budget increased to $7.37 billion, a real increase of 2.82 percent when adjusted for inflation. The Energy Department's Office of Science would also increase to $4.99 billion, a real increase of .47 percent.

For more:
- go to a NIST statement on its fiscal 2013 budget request
- go to the NSF fiscal 2013 budget request webpage
- go to the DOE Office of Science fiscal 2013 budget request webpage 
- track agency information technology fiscal 2013 budget requests through a special report on FierceGovernmentIT

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