I was not the only one to notice the difference in personnel. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) was recently announced, and its members are not the traditional selection of academics and researchers. They are largely from industry, which signals a few key insights about how the administration wants to shape the future, along with current and potential risks willing to be endured for it to be realized.
I wrote about this in a feature for Tech Funding News, if interested. A few takeaways:
The conspicuous gap of biology — Despite the DoD increasingly calling for advanced life science technologies, the council has virtually no biology representation. It’s almost entirely computer science, energy, and finance.
Industrial policy carries risk — The 1960s Plan Calcul from the French government is a cautionary tale. Governments have been known to bet on the wrong form of innovation before.
Venture capital and startups affirmation — Private companies will continue to integrate into the government apparatus, particularly in the AI ecosystem.