NSF Partnerships for Innovation: Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline for PFI-RP Track

NSF Partnerships for Innovation
Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline for PFI-RP Track: February 26, 2023
FAS/SEAS/OSP Deadline: April 25, 2023
Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: May 2, 2023
Award Amount: PFI-TT projects will be funded for up to $550,000 for 18-24 months per award; PFI-RP projects will be funded for up to $1,000,000 for 36 months.

The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program offers researchers from all disciplines of science and engineering funded by NSF the opportunity to perform translational research and technology development, catalyze partnerships and accelerate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace for societal benefit.

This solicitation offers two broad tracks for proposals:

1. The Technology Translation (PFI-TT) track offers the opportunity to translate prior NSF-funded research results in any field of science or engineering into technological innovations with promising commercial potential and societal impact. PFI-TT supports commercial potential demonstration projects for academic research outputs in any NSF-funded science and engineering discipline. This demonstration is achieved through proof-of-concept, prototyping, technology development and/or scale-up work. Concurrently, students and postdoctoral researchers who participate in PFI-TT projects receive education and leadership training in innovation and entrepreneurship. Successful PFI-TT projects generate technology-driven commercialization outcomes that address societal needs.
2. The Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track seeks to achieve the same goals as the PFI-TT track by supporting instead complex, multi-faceted technology development projects that are typically beyond the scope of a single researcher or institution and require a multi-organizational, interdisciplinary, synergistic collaboration. A PFI-RP project requires the creation of partnerships between academic researchers and third-party organizations such as industry, non-academic research organizations, federal laboratories, public or non-profit technology transfer organizations or other universities. Such partnerships are needed to conduct use-inspired research on a stand-alone larger project toward commercialization and societal impact. In the absence of such synergistic partnership, the project’s likelihood for success would be minimal.

The intended outcomes of both PFI-TT and PFI-RP tracks are: a) the commercialization of new intellectual property derived from NSF-funded research outputs; b) the creation of new or broader collaborations with industry (including increased corporate sponsored research); c) the licensing of NSF-funded research outputs to third party corporations or to start-up companies funded by a PFI team; and d) the training of future innovation and entrepreneurship leaders.

Harvard University is limited to submitting one proposal to the PFI-RP track. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating the internal application and selection process in response to the PFI- RP Track via the link above. There are no limits to the number of applications Harvard may submit to the PFI-TT track.