Who May Serve as PI: The Principal Investigator (PI) must
be a senior member of the submitting organization's leadership and will also
serve as the full-time CEO for the NSF Engine. At the time of proposal
submission, this role may be filled by an interim CEO until a full-time CEO is
named or recruited. Designation of a full-time CEO, whose time is 100%
allocated to leading the Engine, must occur within the first six months of the
start date of the award. The mission of the NSF Engines program is to accelerate
the development of sustainable, inclusive, and geographically diverse regional
innovation ecosystems that advance key technologies and address pressing
regional, national, societal and/or geostrategic challenges. The program is
designed to catalyze thriving place-based innovation ecosystems that function
as interdependent networks, characterized by a coalition of stakeholders who
benefit from their proximity and intentional coordination within both their
topic area and region of service. To accomplish such an ambitious mission and goals, the
program is looking to fund NSF Engines led by a full-time CEO and a
multi-sector coalition of partner and stakeholder organizations, (e.g.,
government, industry, entrepreneurs, capital investors, academic institutions,
non-profits, community and labor organizations) with the explicit goal of
accelerating technology development for broad use and societal impact that
benefit entire regions. Each NSF Engine is expected to center on a strong
R&D and technology topic area and have a coalition in place that will
function as an interdependent network to support R&D and technology
innovations, trusted knowledge-sharing, resource expansion, strategic workforce
development, and continuous and growing capital inflow. Each NSF Engine must demonstrate a strong commitment to
inclusively leverage the full spectrum of diverse talent that society has to
offer along several dimensions (e.g., perspectives, geographies, race,
ethnicity, gender, types of organizations, and community type).
Anticipated awards: Awards can receive funding for up to 10 years. The
initial two years of funding will support a ramp-up period. Continued support
for the NSF Engine will be contingent upon the NSF Engine's overall
performance, including meeting its annual performance goals.
- The NSF Engine can be funded for up to a total of
$15,000,000 in Years 1-2.
The NSF Engine can be funded at up to $15,000,000 per
year in Years 3-5.
The NSF Engine can be funded at up to $20,000,000 per
year in Years 6-10.
The total amount of an award will not exceed $160,000,000
from NSF
|