A new bill is on its way to reauthorize the NIH for a few years, reports GovExec, and includes provisions to establish an electronic scientific coding system and requirements for reporting patents resulting from NIH grant funding. It also allows for grant-making funded from multiple collaborative agencies.

Several institutes already have scientific encoding systems, many of which were created by Altum (hi, Ken!), and of course our company designed and developed Interagency Edison, the system which is used by NIH and 25 other agencies to gather inventions and patents reports from grantees.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Joe Barton (R‑Texas), called the NIH the “crown jewel of the federal government.” And he’s not wrong! This bill will ideally become law by the end of the year.