Report discussing the federal government's role in the country's information technology (IT) research and development (R & D) activities.

A report by the President's Info. Technology Advisory Committee on future directions for Fed. support of R&D for information technology (IT). The Committee has concluded that Fed. support for research in IT is seriously inadequate and should be increased. This report includes: executive summary; rationale for government support of long term, fundamental research; IT: transforming our society; setting Federal research priorities: findings and recommendations; technical research priorities; socioeconomic research and policy priorities; and creating an effective management structure for Federal IT R&D. Charts and tables.

In the early 1990s, Congress recognized that several federal agencies had ongoing high-performance computing programs, but no central coordinating body existed to ensure long-term coordination and planning. To provide such a framework, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing and Communications Program Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194) to enhance the effectiveness of the various programs. In conjunction with the passage of the act, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released Grand Challenges: High-Performance Computing and Communications. That document outlined a research and development (R & D) strategy for high-performance computing and a framework for a multiagency program, the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program. The HPCC Program evolved over time and is now called the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program, to better reflect its expanded mission.