- Promoting sustainable economic growth and job creation
- Defeating the most dangerous diseases and achieving better health outcomes for all while reducing health care costs
- Moving toward a clean energy future to reduce dependence on energy imports while curbing greenhouse gas emissions
- Understanding, adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of global climate change
- Managing the competing demands on land, fresh water, and the oceans for the production of food, fiber, biofuels, and ecosystem services based on sustainability and biodiversity
- Developing the technologies to protect our troops, citizens, and national interests.
According to the memo, "Addressing these challenges will require strengthening our efforts in six cross-cutting areas:
- Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and advanced learning technologies at every level, from early childhood to lifelong learning, and for all segments of society;
- The vitality and productivity of our research universities and national and private laboratories, and sustained support for fundamental research;
- The capacity and robustness of infrastructures for information and communication, transportation, and energy;
- High-impact collaborations with researchers, the private sector, universities and other institutions of higher learning, civil society, and international partners to achieve U.S. foreign policy, global health, energy, climate change, and global development objectives;
- Capabilities in space, which are germane not only to looking and exploring outward but also to Earth observation, geopositioning, communication, and more; and
- An economic and policy environment that promotes and rewards research, entrepreneurship, and innovation."
