Technology Policy Areas

Agricultural Technology

This policy area studies emerging technologies in the area of food production.

Biotechnology

New for 2008, this policy area will focus on the implications of this emerging field. Biotechnology is technology based on biology, particularly in agriculture, food science, and medicine.

Cyber Crime

Criminal actions committed via the internet include computer intrusion, password theft, child pornography and exploitation, harassment, threats, copyright piracy, fraud, weapons trafficking, and currency counterfeiting, among others.

Digital Government

Digital government entails the use of information technology (IT) by government for the purpose of exchanging information and services with the private sector as well as between government agencies. Digital government also includes the use of IT to create greater efficiency and to encourage citizen participation by making it easier to access government information and to communicate with elected representatives.

Educational Technology

Technology has a significant role in improving education. Topics in this area include distance learning, mechanisms for assisting people with learning and other disabilities, and increasing the capabilities of children to compete in an increasingly technological world.

Health IT

Health information technology deals with the application of IT systems to the health care industry.

Homeland Security

Homeland security became everyday nomenclature following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A shift from the nebulous policy of national defense, the priority was protection of our citizens at home from foreign threats. The Department of Homeland Security was established as a federal agency charged with oversight and administration of homeland security. Several task-specific agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency were merged into DHS to serve the overarching goal.

Identity Management

Identity management is an integrated system of business processes, policies and technologies that enable organizations to facilitate and control their users' access to critical online applications and resources. Also key to identity management is the protection of confidential personal and business information from unauthorized users.

Information Security

World Wide Web site design and programming should also address Internet security issues - understanding of security of computer-based information, including firewalls, electronic commerce and data encryption is critical. Additional research in this area includes design and development of Web-based database systems and Intranets; design and implementation of local and wide area networks using Internet technology; public and private key encryption, automatic security testing and intrusion detection; and hardware- and software-based authentication.

Information Technology

Includes all matters concerned with the furtherance of computer science and technology and with the design, development, installation, and implementation of information systems and applications [San Diego State University]. An information technology architecture is an integrated framework for acquiring and evolving IT to achieve strategic goals. It has both logical and technical components. Logical components include mission, functional and information requirements, system configurations, and information flows. Technical components include IT standards and rules that will be used to implement the logical architecture.

Internet and Telecommunications

World Wide Web site design and programming should also address Internet security issues - understanding of security of computer-based information, including firewalls, electronic commerce and data encryption is critical. Additional research in this area includes design and development of Web-based database systems and Intranets; design and implementation of local and wide area networks using Internet technology; public and private key encryption, automatic security testing and intrusion detection; and hardware- and software-based authentication.

Mapping/Geographical Information Systems

Functions of mapping/geographical information systems include multimedia mapping packages for personal computers that display various types of maps and geographically referenced overlays. Other research products include providing perspective previews of areas of terrain based on available satellite imagery and digital terrain elevation data. All branches of the armed services use these tools for flight planning and mission support.

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the field of science that seeks to understand and control matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers. R&D is directed toward understanding and creating improved materials, devices, and systems that exploit these new properties.

Quantum Computing

A quantum computer is any device for computation that makes direct use of distinctively quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data. In a classical (or conventional) computer, the amount of data is measured by bits; in a quantum computer, it is measured by qubits. The basic principle of quantum computation is that the quantum properties of particles can be used to represent and structure data, and that quantum mechanisms can be devised and built to perform operations with these data.

Renewable and Alternative Energy

Renewable energy resources are virtually inexhaustible in duration but limited in the amount of energy that is available per unit of time. Renewable energy resources include biomass, hydropower, geothermal, solar, wind, ocean thermal, wave action, and tidal action.

Virtual Worlds

NEW AREA: Virtual worlds are computer-based simulated environments intended for users to inhabit and interact via avatars. Examples include Second Life, Kaneva and Virtual Magic Kingdom. Due to the increasing popularity of virtual worlds, many public policy opportunities and challenges will present themselves.