Fund Details
Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs)/ Accelerating the Big Data Innovation Ecosystem NSF 15-562
Program Number
NSF 15-562
Award Duration
Up to three years
Sponsor Name
National Science Foundation
Nominations Available to Institution
1
Sponsor Deadline
6/24/2015

Brief Description:

NSF Big Data Hubs are intended to stimulate regional and grassroots partnerships focused on Big Data, and lead to a national Big Data innovation ecosystem. The NSF is requesting proposals from organizations that are currently engaged in Big Data innovation activities, and that have a history of leading or fostering collaborations among multiple Big Data stakeholders. Funds will support the formation and coordination of a Big Data Hubs National Network and are not meant to be a primary source of funding for new research.
Harvard University may put forward one proposal for this opportunity. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research is facilitating an internal competition for interested applicants.

Description:

The NSF seeks to fund up to four Big Data Hubs in four defined geographic regions, namely the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West, of the United States. The regional breakdown of the Northeast Region is as follows: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Each Big Data Hub should focus on key challenges and opportunities in its region of service. Opportunities could include facilitating partnerships on overarching themes (e.g., privacy, data sharing, data stewardship, etc.), providing shared resources to the community (e.g., tools, infrastructure, testbeds, etc.) and/or coalescing around key topical themes (e.g., energy, transportation, healthcare). Potential activities for Big Data Hubs include, but are not limited to:
  • Accelerating the ideation and development of Big Data solutions to specific regional and/or societal challenges by convening stakeholders across sectors to partner in results-driven programs and projects;
  • Driving successful pilot programs for emerging Big Data technology by acting as a matchmaker between the various academic, industry, and community stakeholders;
  • Engaging stakeholders across the region, based on shared interests and industry sector engagement, to enable dialogue and share best practices, and to set standards for data access, data formats, metadata, etc.;
  • Increasing the speed and volume of technology transfer between universities, public and private research centers and laboratories, large enterprises, and small and medium-sized businesses;
  • Providing data resources of critical importance to the region such as a data steward or public trust service that validates and certifies privacy-sensitive data sets, infrastructure or other testbeds for small scale experimentation, and/or data tools relevant to the analysis needs of stakeholders; and
  • Facilitating engagement with opinion and thought leaders on the societal impact of Big Data technologies as to maximize positive outcomes of adoption while reducing unwanted consequences. Topical examples could include privacy or broadening participation.
Big Data Hubs should aim to establish 20-30 new partnerships during the award period.

To view the full announcement for this opportunity please click here

Application Information:

Interested applicants are asked to submit the following (font, size or document format are specified for some, but not all of the below)

Project Summary: One page. Times New Roman, minimum 10 point font, one inch margins.
The summary should address proposed focus areas, education goals, stakeholders and the community/communities that would be impacted by the proposed Big Data Hub.

Collaboration Plans: Template provided in body of application; intended to provide information about the proposed governance structure of the HUB. If there is difficulty in accessing the template please contact Autumn_Bennett@harvard.edu

CV of PI and co-PI(s) (no preferred format; if more than one co-PI, co-PI CVs should be combined into a single document)

Eligibility Criteria:

There are no restrictions or limits on who may serve as a PI.  However, an individual may only serve as the PI or co-PI in at most one submission.  

Review Criteria:

Reviewers will consider the intellectual merit of proposals and their alignment with the goals and mission of the opportunity as stated in the NSF program solicitation, available here. 

Additional Information, Related Websites, and Proxy Instructions:

To view the full announcement from the NSF for solicitation 15-562, please click here

To foster collaboration among prospective partners within a region, NSF is sponsoring a series of regional, intensive, one-day workshops (called "charrettes"). One charrette will be held in each geographic region to convene stakeholders, explore Big Data challenges, and aid in the establishment of that consortium. The Northeast charrette is taking place April 17th. For more information on these charrettes, see the following webpage: http://www.usenix.org/BDHubs15. To facilitate discussion among interested parties, a HUBzero community portal has been established at http://bdhub.info. Interested parties may leverage this portal to communicate with members within their region or other stakeholders nationwide.

A list of research professionals by school is available here . Applicants are encouraged to contact the administrator at the school where they hold a primary appointment.

Problems, questions or comments concerning HUFP should be directed to Autumn Bennett in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research

Contact Information:

For questions about this application, please contact Autumn Bennett at autumn_bennett@harvard.edu

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