NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

 WASHINGTON DC 20550 



OFFICE OF'THE 



P"'^="^°'' January 26, 1982 



Tothe President and Members of Congress: 



I am pleased to transmit the second Five-Year Outlook on science and technology as required by the 

 National Science and Technology Policy. Organization and Priorities Act of 1976. 



This Five-Year Outlook, like its predecessor, is based on the premise that discoveries and inventions 

 pouring forth from the Nation's science and technology enterprise will continue to have a profound 

 influence on all aspects of our lives. The report identifies an array of emergent issues that are likely to be of 

 concern to American society during the next five years. It describes some of the problems, opportunities, 

 and constraints associated with the use of science and technology to help define, illuminate and resolve 

 those issues, and it examines several of the problems that may emerge as a result of scientific and 

 technological activities themselves. 



In preparing this report, the Foundation obtained the views of a number of scientific organizations, as well 

 as a range of Federal departments and agencies. These contributions, collected in two accompanying 

 Source Volumes, reflect the vigor and diversity of American science and technology, and I commend them 

 to your attention. Several themes persist amid this diversity: the shared responsibility of the public and 

 private sectors for maintaining the strength of the Nation's science and technology enterprise; the vital 

 contributions of science and technology to industrial innovation, productivity and economic growth; the 

 changing international context of American science and technology; the need to base an ever-widening 

 range of policy decisions on better scientific information; and the need to improve the level of scientific and 

 technological literacy of all Americans to enable them to participate more productively in our increasingly 

 technological society. Views of Government and non-Government specialists on each of these topics are 

 drawn together in this report and highlighted in its Executive Summary. We have also synthesized their 

 views about likely near-term problems, opportunities and constraints associated with the applications of 

 science and technology in such specific areas as agriculture, energy and the environment, health, national 

 security, and space. 



I believe that this Five-Year Outlook provides a useful framework for discussion in the Executive Branch, 

 the Congress, and throughout the Nation about the best ways to focus our superlative national capabilities in 

 science and technology to help increase productivity and economic growth, strengthen our national 

 defenses, make more effective use of our human resources, and improve the quality of our lives and our 

 environment. 



Respectfully, 



U John B. 



Slaughter 

 Director 



