This report—based on a recent convening of scientists, lab administrators, public health officials, and entrepreneurs—provides a blueprint for dramatically expanding genomic surveillance in the United States. By amplifying warning signals and sharing information and best practices, the system presented here could save countless lives and billions of dollars by helping to forestall new variant-driven surges. It could be deployed against more routine—but no less devastating—illnesses as well.

This report is also a first step. The Rockefeller Foundation will invest part of a recent $1 billion commitment to incubate a broad, data-driven platform so the world can better anticipate, visualize, and respond to future outbreaks with pinpoint precision. We look forward to working with partners in government, the academia, and the private sector, in the United States and abroad to develop, analyze, and share the data needed today as well as tomorrow.