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The author of this report develops a quick-turn and open-source methodology for assessing national standing in science and technology (S&T) for a given field. The approach entails the calculation of four metrics: high-impact publications, collaborative network density, quality-adjusted patents, and S&T organizational capacity for an analyst-defined S&T area. Following its presentation, the methodology is applied to the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning for nine countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, India, Russia, China, and the United States. Using this approach, the author finds that the United States ranks first in three metrics (high-impact publications, collaborative network density, and S&T organizational capacity) and second to China in quality-adjusted patents. The author concludes the report by using the data collected to implement the methodology to explore three additional topics: international patterns of collaboration, the role and research foci of particular organizations, and an application area: the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity technology.

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The role that interface standards play in fostering interoperability and innovation has been the subject of considerable study. It is generally accepted that today's internet protocol standards have enabled one of the greatest technological and social revolutions in history, fundamentally changing how humans work, learn, and interact. History offers examples in which standards hindered innovation by enshrining the status quo. Therefore, to tease out explanations for which military standards enable interoperability and innovation, the authors address a fundamental question: What features of interface standards foster interoperability and capability evolution? In this report, the authors examine two military standards to better understand a range of paths that could lead to evolutionary success. The authors found that design and nondesign features of the standards drove capability evolution. In terms of design features, built-in technical means of extensibility enabled the standards to accommodate novel technologies and concepts of operations. The authors also found that standardization of data yields evolution and innovation, while standardization of transport and link layers appears to have inhibited innovation. As for nondesign features, the authors found that capability evolution was enabled by the early and continual incorporation of feedback from operators, the provision of a transparent means of drafting and amending the standard, and an active user and supplier community with the means to provide feedback into the standard design and amendment process. The authors illuminate key factors that should be considered as the U.S. military embarks on the design of joint interoperability standards in the future battle space.

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Inventions, such as new tools, devices, processes, and medicines, have provided significant benefits to society. Inventions help people around the world live longer, healthier, and more-productive lives and provide new ways to build, move, communicate, heal, learn, and play. Understanding and clearly communicating the value of invention can help policymakers appreciate the benefits of supporting the development of inventions and of addressing inequities that suppress the development of female and minority inventors. In this report, researchers use the inventions of Lemelson-MIT Prize winners as examples to illustrate the scientific, technological, economic, and social impacts that inventions can have on society. The impacts of this group's inventions are considered through evaluation of all prize winners in aggregate and through individual case studies of the prize winners from three particular years. Researchers highlight the substantial benefits to society, both nationally and globally, that have been provided by these inventors' works. The inventions discussed in this report have spawned new products, companies, and, in some cases, entirely new industries. Research also demonstrates that there are many different paths to the successful development and commercialization of inventions, with the success or failure of new inventions not always being entirely under the inventor's control.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has a vision for Mosaic Warfare, conceived as both a warfighting concept and a means to accelerate capability development and fielding. Mosaic Warfare entails a more fractionated, heterogenous force that can be dynamically composed on tactical timelines. It entails shifting away from monolithic platforms, which can be slow to develop and field, to simpler force elements that can be developed and fielded quickly and integrated at mission execution. The Mosaic Warfare vision is more challenging to transition than a single program or technology. Anticipating this, DARPA asked RAND Corporation researchers to examine the opportunities and challenges associated with developing and fielding a Mosaic force under existing or alternative governance models, as would be required for the vision to move from DARPA to widespread acceptance by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The researchers designed and executed a policy game that immersed players in acquiring a Mosaic force. During the game, players first operated within the authorities, responsibilities, and constraints of DoD's existing acquisition governance model for setting requirements, allocating resources, and overseeing acquisition. Then, they operated under an alternative governance model that centralized some of those authorities within a new office while still requiring joint service, combatant command (COCOM), and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) approval before fielding new capabilities. In this report, the researchers present insights on the challenges and opportunities of acquiring a Mosaic force under the current and the alternative model and highlight other acquisition models worth exploring.

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Quantum technology could eventually deliver transformative new capabilities with significant economic and national security impacts. Only recently has research and development (R&D) expanded beyond basic science research (primarily conducted within academia) to include significant private-sector development and commercialization. The newness of significant private-sector investment in this technology, and the high uncertainty in its eventual applications and their timelines, make it difficult to form a holistic assessment of the overall industrial base in quantum technology. In this report, we develop a set of flexible and broadly applicable metrics for assessing a nation's quantum industrial base, broadly defined, that attempt to quantify the strength of the nation's scientific research, government activity, private industry activity, and technical achievement. We then apply those metrics to the United States and to the People's Republic of China using a mixed-methods approach. The results for each metric are broken down across the three major application domains for quantum technology: quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum sensing. We conclude with recommendations for policymakers for maintaining the strength of the U.S. quantum industrial base.

Quantum theory. --- Defense industries --- National security. --- United States --- Military policy.