Bill to refocus science agencies meets criticism

Science : The Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act (H.R. 4186) was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) yesterday as a followup to the America COMPETES Act of 2010 . Where COMPETES focused on programs at the US Departments of Energy and Commerce, FIRST is intended to reshape the research, education, and policy programs of NSF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Smith says the bill will focus the agencies on research in fields that drive innovation. Critics argue that the bill will not only fail to improve innovation but will actually hurt it. They claim that the increases in investment in the bill don’t even match inflation and that cuts to funding for behavioral, social, and economic sciences will harm the country’s ability to convert innovations into usable technologies. A group that supports open access to research is upset that FIRST would let publishers restrict public access to government-funded research for up to three years, when the industry has been moving toward a one-year limit.