Sec. 3. National Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network
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The purposes of the Network established under this Act are— to maintain leadership by the United States in advanced experimentation, laboratory automation, and artificial intelligence for scientific research, advanced manufacturing, long-term economic competitiveness, and national security; to reduce the cost of federally funded research through automation and reproducibility; to accelerate national competitiveness by transferring government-funded research to private-sector commercial applications; to improve collaboration among federally funded national laboratories, institutions of higher education, and private industry; to ensure that investment in programmable cloud laboratories results in measurable cost savings, efficiencies, and long-term fiscal sustainability; to incentivize private-sector cost-sharing in research infrastructure and equipment; to support workforce development aligned with the technical needs of industry in the United States; to advance the development of a domestic industrial base for scientific automation tools, artificial intelligence systems for experimentation, and robotics platforms for use in laboratory settings; and to further programmable cloud laboratory research in areas such as materials science, biotechnology, chemistry, and other scientific or engineering disciplines where automation and cloud-enabled experimentation can deliver transformative results, including advanced materials synthesis and characterization, scalable biotechnology experimentation, and high-throughput chemical catalyst development.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall designate and oversee a National Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network of not more than 6 nodes to support secure, standards-based, and cost-effective remote experimentation and automated research. The assessment required under section 5 shall be conducted only after the final designation of nodes under paragraph (1).
The Network shall consist of nodes that— enable programmable workflows and automated science; provide access to advanced scientific and manufacturing instruments, including artificial intelligence-enabled tools; collaborate to establish and adopt common standards, protocols, and best practices; and support interoperability across and between nodes. The Director shall issue a public solicitation for eligible entities to apply for node designation. Eligible entities that may apply for designation as a node include— institutions of higher education; nonprofit research organizations; private-sector research entities; and consortia or collaborations of the entities described in subparagraphs
(A)through (C). An eligible entity that desires to apply for designation as a node in the Network shall submit an application to the Director at such time and in such manner as the Director may require. The application shall include— a technical and programmatic plan for laboratory operations, automation capabilities, and data integration; a plan to achieve long-term self-sustainability, including metrics, interim milestones, and a timeline for reducing reliance on Federal funding; and evidence of non-Federal cost share, private capital, or other third-party contributions demonstrating self-sustainability potential. The Director shall ensure that the process for selecting eligible entities for designation in the Network shall be competitive, merit-reviewed, and transparent, evaluating— pre-existing laboratory infrastructure and suitability for automated science; capacity to support distributed, cloud-enabled programmable workflows for multiple users; likelihood of achieving long-term sustainability without continued Federal funding; demonstrated ability to collaborate with other nodes, academic partners, industry partners, or other Federal research agencies (as defined in section 10002 of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act ( 42 U.S.C. 18901 )); protocols for research security, cybersecurity, and responsible access; and demonstration of user interest and research needs. In designating nodes, the Director shall provide preference for applications demonstrating meaningful third-party cost share and pre-existing infrastructure. Each node selected by the Director shall— support the purposes described in subsection (a)(9); facilitate collaboration among Network members to expand and integrate automated science capabilities and best practices; actively participate with the Director of National Institute of Standards and Technology in developing network-wide interoperability, data-sharing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence-assisted experimentation standards; support secure sharing of experimental data, models, and results across institutions of higher education participating in the Network, if applicable; provide a secure digital infrastructure to enable remote experimentation, artificial intelligence-assisted analysis, and reproducible science; engage in public-private partnerships to streamline the transfer of technology developed using Network infrastructure; develop and maintain a financial sustainability plan to reduce long-term reliance on Federal funds, including through user fees, licensing, consortia membership, or other revenue-generating models; establish performance metrics, including scientific output, cost-effectiveness, academic engagement, private-sector engagement, user satisfaction, and reproducibility of results; and where practicable, leverage commercially available hardware and software solutions to minimize cost and accelerate deployment of automated science capabilities.
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Sec. 3
National Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network
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