Fund Details
2015 Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity
Program Number
NSF 14-610
Total Amount Available from Sponsor for All Awards
$10,000,000
Award Duration
Three years
Maximum Award Amount
$1,000,000
Sponsor Name
National Science Foundation
Nominations Available to Institution
2
Sponsor Letter of Intent Deadline
12/03/2014
Sponsor Deadline
1/28/2015

Brief Description:

The Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity (PFI:BIC) program supports academe-industry partnerships, which are led by an interdisciplinary academic research team with a least one industry partner to build technological, human, and service system innovation capacity. These partnerships focus on the integration of technologies into a specified human-centered smart service system with the potential to achieve transformational change in an existing service system or to spur an entirely new service system. These technologies have been inspired by existing breakthrough discoveries.

Description:

Please Note: Interested Applicants are strongly urged to consult the RFP for NSF 14-610. Changes and definitions of central concept areas have been clarified or elaborated upon by the NSF. 

The program is seeking proposals with a focus on the integration of a technology (or technologies) into a specified human-centered "smart" service system. These technologies are inspired by existing breakthrough research discoveries and should have the potential to achieve transformational change in an existing service system or to spur entirely new systems. The technologies themselves may or may not be considered “smart”, but the creative way in which they are designed, configured, and integrated into a service system makes the system exhibit smart behavior. Effective integration into a human-centered system may require additional research activities and additional discoveries that will become important part(s) of the system

A clear understanding of the market need and the competitive landscape should help guide project activities.  At least one industry partner is expected to contribute market understanding of a promising service application. 

Competitive proposals are likely to be those that move the state of the art in the direction of autonomy, ability to deal with ambiguity, and cognitive reasoning, as well as provide some type of action beneficial to humans. The resulting system will have the capability to incorporate response to past actions into formulation of subsequent actions. The research plan presents well-thought out activities which take full advantage of the academic and industrial perspectives necessary for these partnerships to advance smart human-centered service systems.





Application Information:

Harvard may submit two letters of intent (LOIs)

The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will run a selection process to identify the two LOIs that may go forward to the National Science Foundation. Please use the following guidance when preparing a letter of intent for the OVPR-run competition:

Letters of intent have length limitations. The first two sections are entitled, respectively, Synopsis (2500 characters maximum, including spaces); and Other Comments (2500 characters maximum, including spaces), which can be used to convey important aspects of the project, such as information about not only the discipline(s) related to the technology, but also the disciplines to be included in this project: 1) systems engineering or engineering design, 2) computer science/information technology, and 3) human factors/behavioral science/cognitive engineering. The Other Comments section also may be utilized to contain information from the Additional Information field Primary Industrial Partners, if that information cannot be accommodated in the limited space provided.

Under Additional Information, information in only three (3) data fields is permitted. (Each data field can contain a maximum of 255 characters or approximately 30 words for each section.)

For PFI:BIC, these are as follows:

  • For the Service System: Describe briefly the technology-based “smart” service system that is the focus of the project and how the technology will contribute to the creation or transformation of it.
  • For the Primary Industrial Partner(s), provide for each: Name, Founding Date, Number of Employees, Location (City & State), Commercial Revenues for the preceding calendar year, and Project Role (s). Reasonable abbreviations can be used. If you cannot accommodate the information, include the rest of the information under Other Comments (see above).
  • For the Human Factors Tasks to be carried out which are essential to the operation of the Smart Service System: List a few major research activities which illustrate inclusion of human-centered considerations.




Eligibility Criteria:

The PI cannot concurrently be a PI on more than one active PFI:BIC award.

A PI who is named in a proposal in response to this program solicitation may not be named in a proposal for funding consideration in the same fiscal year to the Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research (PFI:AIR) program.

Industry Partner Eligibility: A minimum of one (1) industry partner of any size is required. This partner (i.e., the one that fulfills the minimum requirement) must be U.S.-based and have commercial revenues that include sales, services, or licensing. Grants and government contracts may contribute to its revenues but may not constitute the entirety of its revenues. The project must involve research tasks that demonstrate a highly collaborative research plan with participation of the primary industrial partner with the academic researcher during the life of the award.

Please refer to the RFP announcement for further information concerning additional primary partner(s) after the minimum requirement of one (1) industry partner has been met.



Review Criteria:

The National Science Foundation will use National Science Board approved criteria.  Additional merit considerations also apply and are listed below.  Please see the full text of the solicitation for details.

Additional review criteria:
  • The promise of the technology to be advanced, adapted, and integrated into a smart service system that has the potential for social and economic impact.
  • The value of the research tasks to be carried out, including those that consider human factors, to advance, adapt, and integrate the technology into a smart service system.
  • The quality of the primary partnership (e.g., expertise, achievements, complementarities, commitment) as integral to the planning and execution of these activities.
  • The likelihood that the nature of the participation of students and/or postdoctoral researchers in this culture of collaboration will prepare them to be future innovators.


Additional Information, Related Websites, and Proxy Instructions:

The NSF will hold webinars to answer questions about the PFI:BIC opportunity. The NSF will post webinar details at http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/pfi/bic.jsp as they become available.  

Internal applicants are encouraged to consult with the Research Development professional at the school where they hold their primary appointment for assistance with the non-disciplinary elements of their proposal. A list of names and contact information by school is available here.

In the OVPR office please contact Autumn_Bennett@harvard.edu 

Search Filters:

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  • Harvard Business School
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