Geoscience Reference
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itself—to other agencies, states, other countries, academe, and the private sec-
tor—to identify relevant scientific advances and opportunities where collabora-
tion that relies on others' efforts can be the best (sometimes the only) means of
making progress in protecting health and the environment.
Finding:
Although EPA has periodically attempted to scan for and anticipate
new scientific, technology, and policy developments, these efforts have not been
systematic and sustained. The establishment of deliberate and systematic proc-
esses for anticipating human health and ecosystem challenges and new scientific
and technical opportunities would allow EPA to stay at the leading edge of
emerging science.
Recommendation: The committee recommends that EPA engage in a delib-
erate and systematic “scanning” capability involving staff from ORD, other
program offices, and the regions. Such a dedicated and sustained “futures
network” (as EPA called groups with a similar function in the past), with
time and modest resources, would be able to interact with other federal
agencies, academe, and industry to identify emerging issues and bring the
newest scientific approaches into EPA.
Science That Innovates
Given EPA's mission and stature as the leading government environ-
mental science and engineering organization, it is imperative that it innovate and
support innovation elsewhere in technologies, scientific methods, approaches,
tools, and policy instruments. “Innovation” can be challenging to define for a
regulatory agency, but one component involves advancing the ability of the
agency to discover and characterize problems at a systems level and to provide
decision-makers with solutions that are effective and that balance the multiple
objectives relevant to the agency and society. Spinoffs from innovation within
the agency and activities to promote innovation outside the agency can help en-
vironmental authorities in states and other countries to solve their problems and
can encourage the regulated community to discover less expensive, faster, and
better ways to meet or exceed mandated compliance. Based on the above per-
spective and using analogies to the typical business definition of innovation, the
section below considers processes by which EPA can incorporate and promote
innovation.
Identifying Opportunities and Meeting Desired Customer Outcomes
Innovations typically begin with two processes: the identification of op-
portunity and the understanding of desired “customer” outcomes. An opportu-
nity is simply a “gap” between the current state and a more desirable situation as
envisioned by customers. The gaps can be technologic in nature (for example,
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