NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Institutes of Health has released a draft version of its roadmap for modernizing its biomedical data science ecosystem, and is now seeking public input on the plan.
In the initial version of its Strategic Plan for Data Science, the NIH identifies various challenges it faces in keeping up with the rapid advancements in data science, such as increasing costs associated with managing data and the lack of standardization of dataset formats. It also presents a set of goals related to developing reliable, accessible, and secure modes of data storage; establishing a coordinated and efficient data ecosystem; eliminating redundancies; and strengthening coordination and interactions, both within the NIH and between the institute and the broader scientific community. The plan further includes a series of implementation tactics for each of its specific goals.
Now that it has released the plan, the NIH is asking for comments and suggestions from members of the scientific community, academic institutions, the private sector, health professionals and professional societies, advocacy groups, patient communities, and other interested members of the public. Among the topics the agency is specifically seeking comment on are the appropriateness of its stated goals, related partnering opportunities, other topics or concepts that should be included in the plan, and measures of performance that could be used to gauge the success of the plan's different goals.
Additional details on the NIH's request for information can be found here.