The Trump administration on 22 July unveiled what it describes as the most sweeping restructuring of America's scientific research system in over 80 years, placing artificial intelligence at the core of a new federal strategy and proposing alternatives to traditional peer review. The blueprint, titled 'Science: A New Golden Age,' was released by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and covers a federal research enterprise that distributes roughly $200 billion annually in research and development funding.

Key Proposals in the Blueprint

The report calls for redirecting more federal support toward individual scientists rather than entrenched institutions, establishing agile research organisations, and scaling up Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)-style programmes designed to pursue high-risk, high-reward science. It also recommends experimenting with so-called 'golden tickets' — a mechanism allowing individual technical reviewers to champion unconventional proposals that may not survive traditional consensus-based review panels.

Other proposed funding tools include prizes, advance market commitments, and regranting models. The administration argues that conventional peer review has historically favoured incremental research over genuinely transformative ideas.

AI and the Genesis Mission

Artificial intelligence forms the centrepiece of the strategy. The administration is pushing federal agencies to fully fund and expand the Genesis Mission, launched in November 2025, which aims to double the productivity and impact of American science and engineering within a decade. The initiative would link supercomputers, scientific datasets, laboratory instruments, and AI models across national laboratories, enabling autonomous systems capable of generating hypotheses, designing experiments, and analysing results without direct human intervention at each step.

National Scientific Missions Identified

The report identifies several flagship scientific objectives: developing a quantum computer capable of enabling new scientific discoveries; demonstrating commercial fusion power on US soil by the mid-2030s; and advancing next-generation semiconductor technologies. In space, it calls for returning Americans to the lunar surface by 2028, constructing a permanent lunar base, and developing nuclear power systems for deep-space exploration.

What the Government Said

OSTP Director Michael Kratsios said the report lays a policy foundation that 'frees American scientists to do their most groundbreaking work, revives the national pursuit of ambitious scientific missions, and positions the United States to lead the AI-driven scientific revolution that will define the next century.' He drew a direct parallel with the post-World War II moment: 'American scientific progress was the beating heart of the 20th century. After World War II, we adapted to a new world by reinventing our scientific institutions, and we must do so again today.'

China, Implementation Timeline, and What Comes Next

The report explicitly names China as America's first peer-level competitor in research spending, noting that Beijing's expenditure has reached parity with the United States on a purchasing-power-adjusted basis by some measures. Priority domains for US leadership are identified as AI, quantum science, semiconductors, nuclear energy, robotics, and space systems.

Federal agencies with at least $3 billion in fiscal 2026 research and development budget authority must submit implementation plans within 90 days. Agencies have also been directed to incorporate these priorities into their fiscal 2028 budget proposals to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The document draws an explicit historical parallel with Vannevar Bush's landmark 1945 report, 'Science: The Endless Frontier,' which shaped the postwar US research architecture.