Where's the money? It's coming

The White House is telling federal agencies to redirect low-priority spending to science and technology projects in their fiscal 2011 budgets.

"Scientific discovery and technological innovation are major engines of increasing productivity and are indispensable for promoting economic growth, safeguarding the environment, improving the health of the population and safeguarding our national security in the technologically driven 21st century," director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren wrote in the memo.

It's a remarkably smart idea to find the money that's already in an agency's coffers and make better use of it. And what better way than tech and science?

The memo said that the agency should focus on programs that make research institutions more productive and build IT infrastructure, among other priorities.

For more on this new way of thinking about money:
- check out this InformationWeek article