Foster Innovation through Research and Technology

Strong support for chemistry and other R&D is central to our nation’s global competitiveness, productivity, defense, public health, energy security, and environmental progress. Although the engines of innovation are largely in private hands, the federal government provides a significant majority of all support for basic research. This investment fosters new knowledge, industrial innovation, and the training of future scientists and engineers.  Government plays a key role in fostering a healthy climate for innovation through tax policy, international standards, intellectual property, and other incentives

ACS supports efforts to

  • Promote sustained federal investments in R&D, science infrastructure, and industrial innovation to enhance U.S. global competitiveness.
  • Accelerate the development and commercialization of new technologies that promote national goals in
    •  energy independence, 
    • environmental sustainability,
    •  national and homeland security, 
    • human health, and 
    • associated science and technology jobs.
  • Foster U.S. tax, trade, economic, and regulatory policies that improve the competitiveness of U.S. entrepreneurs and companies.
  • Strengthen the ability of worldwide legal systems to cooperatively encourage innovation through intellectual property protection.

U.S.Innovation and Entrepreneurship

  • Supports investment in a world-class workforce through education and training. 
  • Supports predictable and sustained commitments to basic research and technology development. 
  • Supports development of a sustainable infrastructure for innovation and entrepreneurship

Energy Policy

  • Endorses an energy policy that prioritizes energy efficiency. 
  • Supports including the full lifecycle costs of energy sources in their market prices, including the impacts on human health and the environment. 
  • Encourages long-term orientation for both funding and incentives.

Intellectual Property

  • Encourages policies which improve the quality and consistency of granted patents, as well as the efficiency of the patent process. 
  • Urges policymakers to support information technology upgrades to the Copyright Office, 
  • Support sustainable Open Access initiatives.  
  • Promotes consistent application of trade secret protections.

Science & Technology Funding.

  • Urges policymakers to restore investments in federal R&D funding to levels nearer to 1.2% of GDP. 
  • Recommends strategies to ensure federal dollars dedicated to R&D are used as efficiently as possible. 
  • Recognizes the function of federal S&T funding in educating future scientists and supports federal agency investments that are coordinated, complimentary, 
  • Broaden participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields

U.S. Business Climate

  • Supports a fair and level playing field that enhances competition and stimulates research and development. 
  • Supports policies that foster the growth of small research and development businesses and encourage entrepreneurship. 
  • Supports efforts to foster U.S. corporate tax and trade policies that will support American firms' competitiveness in the global business atmosphere.
  • Supports reforms to the U.S. regulatory and intellectual property frameworks that will promote and minimize impediments to innovation

ACS Policy Positions

Innovation through Research & Technology

Science Education & Workforce

Sustainability & the Environment

Science in the Public Policy