On Thursday, December 2, 2021, a special virtual commemoration event was held marking the 30th anniversary of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) program.

For three decades, the NITRD program has coordinated federal investment at the frontiers of computing, networking, data, and software, leading to many of the breakthrough information technologies that define our lives today, like the modern Internet as well as 4G, LTE, and 5G wireless networks, expanding access to broadband connectivity, information, and other resources; vehicle-to-vehicle communication, enhancing driver safety and reducing traffic congestion; and machine learning and predictive modeling, advancing understanding of human diseases like COVID-19 leading to therapeutics.

The 30^th-anniversary commemoration was organized by the NITRD National Coordination Office (NCO) with support from Computing Research Association’s Computing Community Consortium, and highlighted the impact on society of the coordinated federal investment in networking and information technology research and development during this period.

The United States has a thriving information technology innovation ecosystem that uniquely integrates expertise and resources spanning the Federal Government, academia, and private industry. In 1991, Congress recognized the importance of this innovation ecosystem and the associated advances in networking and information technology research and development by passing the High Performance Computing Act. That Act established the High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program, the predecessor to today’s NITRD program. In the years since, the HPCC and NITRD programs have enabled multi-agency coordination of the federal investment in this space.

Beyond the Dec. 2 virtual event, the NITRD NCO and CCC are planning an in-person symposium exploring three decades of advances as well as future directions in computing, networking, data, and software. Please stay tuned for more information about that event, which is planned for 2022. The last 30 years have been remarkable, and the next 30 look to result in even more scientific discoveries, technological breakthroughs, and innovations, as NITRD and its member agencies expand the frontiers of human knowledge.

For more information, please see the NITRD website.