Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity

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National prosperity today has become more dependent upon research and technology. Thus, NSF's role of supporting discovery research across all fields of science and engineering has become increasingly more relevant to economic development. By establishing and expanding partnerships, existing research discovery findings from institutions of higher education can be translated to innovations.This program solicitation, Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity (PFI: BIC) starts with an existing sound scientific and/or engineering-based research discovery that can be translated to market-valued solutions through a partnership between academe and small technology-based businesses. The funds will provide support to an academic institution to partner with at least two small technology-based businesses that are not in direct competition with each other to carry out early translational-research activities The primary aims of the activities of this partnership are three-fold: (1) to build the innovation capacity of the individual participants from academe and from business; (2) to increase the viability of the small business concerns; and (3) to develop the next-generation workforce by providing opportunities for students at different levels to effectively learn from, participate in, and be profoundly changed by exposure to the process of building innovation capacity that occurs in BIC projects. The active collaboration between academe and business could result in solutions with potential for an impact on more than one market. WEBINAR: A webinar will be held within 6 weeks of the release date of this solicitation to answer any questions about the solicitation. Details will be posted on the Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) website. (www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=iip) as they become available.

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