Grand Challenges

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Grand Challenges are difficult but important problems set by various institutions or professions to encourage solutions or advocate for the application of government or philanthropic funds especially in the most highly developed economies [1] and

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... energize not only the scientific and engineering community, but also students, journalists, the public, and their elected representatives, to develop a sense of the possibilities, an appreciation of the risks, and an urgent commitment to accelerate progress. [2]

Grand challenges are more than ordinary research questions or priorities, they are end results or outcomes that are global in scale; very difficult to accomplish, yet offer hope of being ultimately tractable; demand an extensive number of research projects across many technical and non-technical disciplines and accompanied by well-defined metrics. [1] Lastly, Grand challenges "require coordinated, collaborative, and collective efforts" [3] and must capture "the popular imagination, and thus political support." [1]

In engineering

In government and military

In mathematics education

In medicine and health

In science and technology

In other subjects

U.S. national computing research

1980s

The presidential Office of Science and Technology Policy in the United States set a first list of grand challenges in the late 1980s, to direct research funding for high-performance computing. A grand challenge is a fundamental problem in science or engineering, with broad applications, whose solution would be enabled by the application of high performance computing resources that could become available in the near future. Examples of these grand challenges were said to be: [15]

This was partially in response to the Japanese 5th Generation (or Next Generation) 10-year project.[ citation needed ]

The list envisioned using high-performance computing to improve understanding and solve problems in: [16]

2000s

The National Science Foundation updated its list of grand challenges, removing largely completed challenges such as the Human Genome Project, and adding new challenges such as better prediction of climate change, carbon dioxide sequestration, tree of life genetics, understanding biological systems, virtual product design, cancer detection and therapy, and modeling of hazards (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, and chemical accidents), and gamma ray bursts. In addition to funding high-performance computing hardware, the NSF proposed to fund research on computational algorithms and methods, software development methods, data visualization, education, and workforce development. [17]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Gould, M. "GIScience grand challenges: How can research and technology in this field address big-picture problems? ArcUser, 13 (4), 64–65." (2010). Accessed at
  2. ↑ Omenn, Gilbert S. "Grand challenges and great opportunities in science, technology, and public policy." Science 314.5806 (2006): 1696-1704. accessed at
  3. ↑ "Tackling COVID-19 as a Grand Challenge | Digital Society Blog". HIIG. 2020-06-08. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  4. ↑ Mertz, D.R. (2005). Grand Challenges: A Strategic Plan for Bridge Engineering, NCHRP Project 20-07/Task 199, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.v
  5. ↑ Regli, William, and Jeff Heisserman. "Report from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Grand Challenges Summit." Computer-Aided Design 11.45 (2013): 1485-1487.
  6. ↑ Sawyer, Tom. "Engineers Rise to Challenge for Infrastructure Innovations." Enr, vol. 279, no. 1, 2017, pp. 45
  7. ↑ Marburger, J. "Grand challenges for disaster reduction." National Science and Technology Council (2005). Accessed on November 5,2017 at
  8. ↑ NCTM Research Committee. "Grand challenges and opportunities in mathematics education research." Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 46.2 (2015): 134-146. Accessed at
  9. ↑ "Home | Cancer Grand Challenges". cancergrandchallenges.org. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  10. ↑ Nietzel, Michael T. "The Cancer Grand Challenges Program Awards $100 Million To Four Research Teams". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  11. ↑ George, Gerard; Howard-Grenville, Jennifer; Joshi, Aparna; Tihanyi, Laszlo (2016-09-30). "Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research". Academy of Management Journal. 59 (6): 1880–1895. doi:10.5465/amj.2016.4007. ISSN   0001-4273.
  12. ↑ Ferraro, Fabrizio; Etzion, Dror; Gehman, Joel (2015-03-01). "Tackling Grand Challenges Pragmatically: Robust Action Revisited". Organization Studies. 36 (3): 363–390. doi:10.1177/0170840614563742. ISSN   0170-8406. S2CID   52401497.
  13. ↑ Carton, Guillaume; Parigot, Julia; Roulet, Thomas (2023-03-23). "How Not to Turn the Grand Challenges Literature Into a Tower of Babel?". Business & Society: 000765032311593. doi: 10.1177/00076503231159385 . ISSN   0007-6503.
  14. ↑ Seelos, Christian; Mair, Johanna; Traeger, Charlotte (2022-12-19). "The future of grand challenges research: Retiring a hopeful concept and endorsing research principles". International Journal of Management Reviews. 25 (2): 251–269. doi: 10.1111/ijmr.12324 . ISSN   1460-8545.
  15. ↑ "A Research and Development Strategy for High Performance Computing", Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy, November 20, 1987
  16. ↑ Executive Office of the President, Office of Science and Technology Policy, "The Federal High Performance Computing Program," Sept. 1989, pp. 49–50: Appendix A Summary
  17. ↑ "Task Force Report Grand Challenges" (PDF). nsf.gov. 2011.
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