Today, the grants-supported research enterprise is an amalgam of highly interdependent organizations, different value systems, multiple business processes, and competing priorities. These characteristics create opportunities for the enterprise, but they also present significant challenges. Some of these challenges are inherent in the nature of the enterprise; others reflect trends in the environment and their influences on the way research is conducted. These challenges include:

Organizational complexity and diversity--Thousands of organizations with different management, technology, and policy frameworks and a wide variety of overlapping and distinct goals come together to make up the research enterprise.

Rapid technological change--Modern technical tools and the work we can do with them are part of the legacy of scientific research. But technological change is also a source of organizational and operational frustration.

Slow organizational and interorganizational adaptation to change--The ways organizations define themselves, relate to the environment, approach their work, and select processes, tools, and techniques all evolve more slowly than the technology around them. This is compounded when multiple independent organizations must work together.

Conflicting approaches to risk--The juxtaposition of two very different approaches to risk presents an ongoing conundrum for the enterprise. It needs policies, procedures, and processes that assure public trust, but also the freedom to take the risk of investing in new and untried ideas.

Interdisciplinarity and research partnerships--Today's societal needs and scientific challenges demand interdisciplinary studies to uncover new knowledge not discoverable using traditional approaches. This kind of research can be powerful, but it is also complicated, expensive, and counter to prevailing traditions.

Increasing accountability and performance requirements--Research agencies are struggling to find useful ways to address these requirements in the context of long-term, uncertain investments in science. At the same time, these initiatives may encourage agencies to better meet another long-standing need--to communicate in plain language about the value and the progress in science.

Misalignment of multiple policies and operating cycles--The policy and regulatory frameworks governing organizations throughout the enterprise are increasing in both quantity and variety. Repetitive but misaligned business cycles, such as the federal budget cycle and traditional academic calendars, regularly challenge the operational capacity and goals of the enterprise as a whole.

Since the mid-1980s, federal agencies and their research partners have worked to address these challenges in programs like the Federal Demonstration Partnership, various electronic grants administration projects at state and federal levels, and a new federal e-government initiative focused on grants-making. Despite the progress made by these efforts, the challenges persist. The emergence of the ideal research enterprise will require better knowledge of its components and dynamics, and appropriate action to integrate that knowledge into practice. To make further progress, new streams of research as well as several practical actions are warranted.