OMB’s new impact report trumpets progress with emerging technologies; House, Senate introduce bipartisan bill to create national immersive tech strategy

As members of the Biden administration wrap up their duties ahead of next month’s transition, the Office of Management and Budget’s IT office is touting the “innovative” technological progress it’s made over the past four years in the face of “unprecedented challenges.” In an impact report shared exclusively with FedScoop, OMB’s Office of the Federal Chief Information Officer highlighted several of its tech-focused accomplishments throughout President Joe Biden’s time in office, pointing specifically to work in artificial intelligence, open data, cybersecurity and quantum, all in service of further modernizing the federal government.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would create an advisory panel aimed at developing a national strategy for technologies such as virtual and augmented reality. Under the United States Leadership in Immersive Technology Act, the Department of Commerce would be directed to establish such a panel that would advise the president on how to use those technologies, known collectively as immersive technologies or XR, for commerce, trade and economic competitiveness. That panel would also study XR and its impact on national security, according to a release from sponsor Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., announcing the bill.

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