The White House Office of Science & Technology (OSTP) Director Eric Lander and Deputy Director Alondra Nelson recently launched The Time is Now: Advancing Equity in Science and Technology Ideation Challenge, which is open for submissions until November 19, 2021.This challenge is designed to engage with and learn from all of America about one essential question, “How can we guarantee all Americans can fully participate in, and contribute to, science and technology?”

By almost every measure, the U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics ecosystem is inequitable. We know progress is being made, and yet more remains to be done. The challenge is designed to foster input from all of America in a number of ways:

• Submitting ideas and insights that could inspire transformational change across the U.S. science and technology ecosystem.
• Highlighting examples of programs and initiatives that are already succeeding in advancing equity in science and technology.
• Pitching a brand-new idea that could reshape the way science is done in our Nation, making it more eminent, equitable, and inclusive.
• Sharing this #SciEquityChallenge with someone else through social media, video submissions, and email to help even more people contribute to the national goal of advancing equity in science and technology.

This critical input from the public will be part of a larger effort to gather ideas that can galvanize action and spur new efforts that benefit the entire Nation.

To this end, we have distributed a press release, shared publicly on social media through the WHOSTP Twitter account, and by using the #OSTPTimeIsNow and #SciEquityChallenge hashtags. Our goal is to spread the message about this ideation challenge far and wide, so that we can interact with as many people and perspectives as possible. We would welcome your support in sharing this opportunity to contribute to the challenge.