NPI: President’s Call for Quantum, AI Funding Increases Welcome; NPI Urges Continued R&D Investments Across Science Agencies in Coming Fiscal Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 11, 2020) - The National Photonics Initiative (NPI), a broad-based collaborative alliance among industry, academia, and government to raise awareness of optics and photonics technology, is commending a proposed increase in Quantum Information Science (QIS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) funding in President Trump’s proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Budget.

According to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Administration is proposing to increase the budget for federal QIS and AI research and development (R&D) by 50 percent in the coming year, potentially doubling by 2022. Although the proposed increases for these critical technology areas are important, the NPI strongly urges that these increases in funding do not come at the expense of the larger federal R&D enterprise.

“These proposed funding increases for QIS and AI set a high bar for the 2021 budget process,” said Ed White, Chair of the NPI Steering Committee and Vice President Test, Assembly and Packaging for AIM Photonics. “While there is a tremendous amount of potential in the quantum and AI spaces, these are not the only areas of science that are growing and in need of federal investment. The NPI and its members will continue to work with the administration and congressional leaders to encourage robust investment in R&D across the science agencies in the coming FY2021 appropriations process.”

For more information on the Trump Administration’s FY 2021 budget proposal, click HERE.

---

About the NPI: The National Photonics Initiative (NPI) is a collaborative alliance among industry, academia and government to raise awareness of photonics and the impact of photonics on our everyday lives; increase cooperation and coordination among US industry, government and academia to advance photonics-driven fields; and drive US funding and investment in areas of photonics critical to maintaining US economic competitiveness and national security. The initiative is being led by top scientific societies including the American Physical Society (APS), the IEEE Photonics Society, the Laser Institute of America (LIA), The Optical Society (OSA) and SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics. For more information visit www.lightourfuture.org.