10 things the White House wants Trump to do for science and technology

REUTERS/Mike Segar

With just one day until the Inauguration, the current White House administration is preparing for the transition.

While promoting science and technology innovation were major goals during Obama's presidency, there's still plenthy of mystery surrounding what we can expect from the Trump administration, so the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy decided to write Trump a to-do list.

The list was written by the director of OSTP, Dr. John Holden, and the White House CTO, Megan Smith, as part of a broader document which also outlined the importance of technology innovation and the advancements that President Obama made while in office.

Here's what they want the president-elect to do:

1. Invest in Fundamental Research

The to-do list emphasized that "funding for R&D is essential to address societal needs in areas in which the private sector does not have sufficient economic incentive to make the required investments." They listed specific areas in which Trump should focus funding. 

2. Recruit, Retain, and Empower Top S&T Talent in the Federal Government

Take White House CTO Megan Smith, for example. Obama appointed Smith to the CTO position in 2014. She formerly was a vice president at Google[x] at Google. That said, the to-do list encouraged Trump to continue to hire technical leaders "who can help build a more effective, efficient, and innovative government."

3. Identify and Pursue Grand Challenges

The letter defined grand challenges as "ambitious yet achievable goals that harness [science and technology] and that have the potential to capture the public’s imagination." Examples include the "BRAIN Initiative, NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge, an Administration effort to eliminate the waiting list for organ transplantation, and a nanotechnology-inspired Grand Challenge in brain-inspired computing."