Key facts
- Darío Gil is leading the Genesis Mission to strengthen U.S. science and technology competitiveness.
- The Genesis Mission aims for proactive government involvement in emerging technologies.
- The Energy Department and Japan struck a $1 billion information sharing partnership for the Genesis Mission.
- The program received a record number of over 5,000 unique proposals.
- Gil is advocating for increased congressional funding for science R&D and a bipartisan law codifying the Genesis Mission.
Darío Gil, an Energy Department undersecretary and former IBM research lead, is quietly working to shape U.S. science and technology policy, particularly concerning artificial intelligence. He advocates for a proactive government approach to emerging technologies, aiming to bolster U.S. competitiveness before crises or foreign advantages emerge, such as from China. Gil is spearheading the Genesis Mission, an initiative focused on enhancing research and development and fostering information sharing between government, industry, and academia. This week marked a significant milestone with a $1 billion information sharing partnership established between the Energy Department and Japan. The Genesis Mission has also seen unprecedented participation, receiving over 5,000 unique proposals, a record for the Department of Energy. Gil is actively engaging with lawmakers in both the House and Senate to secure increased congressional funding for science R&D and to pass bipartisan legislation codifying the Genesis Mission. However, his ambitions face challenges, including criticism that proposed research goals are difficult to achieve without reversing a long-term decline in public R&D spending. Gil expressed particular excitement about advancements in fusion energy, describing it as a "civilizational" problem, and the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers. The department anticipates announcing the first Genesis awardees this summer, with hundreds of teams expected to participate in the initial cohort.