Office of Science and Technology

Great leaps in development have historically been based, in part, on science and technology. Recognizing this, USAID has long made investments in science and technology to confront global challenges. In recent years, democratization of science, technology and communications, as well as the availability of data, are allowing more people in the United States and the developing world to engage in defining and solving the world’s most critical problems. Such advances also create new opportunities for USAID to improve its effectiveness, accelerate progress, decrease costs and achieve success at much greater scale and with more significant impact. Furthermore, development challenges can no longer be contained within one country: many of the threats that undermine security in developing countries are now transnational, and therefore much more complex. This requires greater use of data and multidisciplinary approaches in order to understand the nature and scope of the problem. The next decade will be defined by such complexity, greater fluidity and the need to create new solutions to adapt to a changing world. 

In response, USAID is advancing the role of science and technology in solving the most critical development problems through the creation of the independent Office of Science and Technology (OST). Our goal is to use the transformative power of science and technology to deliver more effective, cost-efficient results in development by:

• improving our understanding of development problems and solutions through better data and analytics,
• creating better solutions through revolutionary, high-payoff research that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and development, and
• expanding the impact of solutions and solvers in development by incubating new technologies and approaches, and catalyzing global action to meet the greatest challenges of our time.