The 2016-2017 Iacc Strategic Plan's New Objectives and Trends in ASD Research Funding

Background: The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a federal advisory committee composed of federal officials and public stakeholders; it was established by Congress to coordinate activities concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and among member federal agencies. The IACC produces an annual Strategic Plan, providing a framework to guide the efforts of federal and private funders of autism research. For the 2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan, the Committee formulated new objectives for each of the seven research question areas. The 23 new objectives address critical gaps and opportunities they perceived in the current research landscape.

Objectives: The Office of Autism Research Coordination (OARC), which coordinates and manages the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), will present the new 2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder objectives along with analysis on funding trends towards these objectives and the new recommended budget for U.S. investment in ASD research.

Methods: Each question in the Strategic Plan includes an Aspirational Goal, or long-term vision for the question, as well as a description of the state of the field; the needs and opportunities in research, services, and policy; and three to four broad objectives for each question topic. There is also one cross-cutting objective on the topic of ASD in females. Data on individual research-related projects is aligned with objectives in the IACC Strategic Plan, providing an accounting of how much funding has supported projects related to Strategic Plan objectives and highlighting trends.

Results: OARC has collected U.S. ASD research funding data for 2016 and 2017 and aligned research projects with the 23 objectives in the 2016-2017 Strategic Plan. The overall ASD funding amounts for 2016 and 2017 are compared to the Committee’s recommended annual budget (2015-2020). Funding data will provide information on if the Committee’s objectives are being met as well as the Committee’s budget recommendations.

Conclusions: The 2016-2017 IACC Strategic Plan for ASD along with the recent analysis on ASD research funding will provide an insightful overview of the state of autism research.