NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ODNI Press Release No. 03-20

Jan. 22, 2020

ODNI-Sponsored Study Examines Bioeconomy



WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Office of the Director of National Intelligence-sponsored study examining the current state of the bioeconomy and outlining strategies to protect data and intellectual property was released last week. “Safeguarding the Bioeconomy: Finding Strategies for Understanding, Evaluating, and Protecting the Bioeconomy while Sustaining Innovation and Growth” is now available online.



“The study advances the Intelligence Community’s mission of understanding science and technology disciplines which may pose intelligence challenges today and in the future,” said Dr. John Beieler, ODNI Director of Science and Technology (S&T).



ODNI sponsored the 21-month National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine consensus study, which devised a means of tracking advances in the life sciences to understand their economic and security implications. “Rapid technical progress within the life sciences, in conjunction with increased convergence with other fields, such as information science, materials engineering, and computing, have contributed to accelerated growth across multiple sectors of the U.S. economy,” said Beieler.



These sectors include agriculture, biomedical science, information science and computing, bioindustrial manufacturing, and bioenergy production.



“As the applications of biotechnology continued to expand into those sectors, it became ever more difficult to neatly parse out the economic potential, public benefit, and associated vulnerabilities,” said Beieler.

The study represents the first step towards understanding these wide-ranging impacts and how they affect national security.



ODNI S&T applies science and technology needs to solve intelligence problems and guide enterprise investments. The National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine.

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