A House bill introduced last month that would create a nonprofit foundation for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) now has a Senate companion measure.
The Senate version of the Expanding Partnerships for Innovation and Competitiveness (EPIC) Act was filed on July 8 by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., Todd Young, R-Ind., John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
The legislation would create a nonprofit Foundation for Standards and Metrology that the senators’ offices said would help NIST to “mobilize private and philanthropic funding to support critical scientific and technical initiatives.”
The measure, they said, would allow NIST to collaborate more closely with the private sector, nonprofits, and academia, and also help to “train the emerging technology workforce of the future and retain top talent at the agency.” They noted that similar foundations have been created by Congress to help support the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, among other Federal agencies.
The House version of the bill – introduced by Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Jay Obernolte, R-Calif. – was approved on June 13 by the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and now awaits further consideration by the full House.
“NIST plays a critical role in ensuring American leadership in science and technology,” Sen. Coons said in announcing the Senate bill on July 9.
“The EPIC Act, by establishing a nonprofit foundation to support NIST, would fuel public-private partnerships and mobilize resources to support U.S. leadership on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotech, and quantum computing,” he said.
“Maintaining and encouraging research and development in the United States is critical to winning the technological race against China and other adversaries,” said Sen. Young. “Our bipartisan legislation will support these efforts by establishing an independent foundation to identify and foster innovative public-private partnerships across the country and strengthen the American economy.”
“America should leverage every possible resource to stay ahead of adversaries like China,” said Sen. Fischer, who explained that the legislation “will encourage public-private collaboration to keep the United States at the forefront of emerging technologies, including AI, cybersecurity, advanced computing, and more.”
