Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has set up the "Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity" grant to encourage more institutions of higher education (IHEs) to participate in innovation ecosystems. These ecosystems focus on key technologies such as advanced manufacturing, biotech, quantum information science, and more. The NSF aims to accelerate technological innovation nationwide and allows all Americans to be part of the U.S. research and innovation sectors. This initiative, including the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), fosters the growth of inclusive innovation ecosystems that center on practical research, commercial applications, and workforce development.

One of the TIP Directorate's programs is the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) designed to build inclusive innovation ecosystems across the country. However, several Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), and two-year institutions currently lack the necessary infrastructure to participate in this program.

Through this grant, the NSF aims to support MSIs, PUIs, and two-year institutions with limited research capacity to develop effective relationships and contribute to innovation ecosystems. Importantly, participation in this grant is not based on having an existing partnership with organizations submitting an NSF Engines proposal. The grant's goal is to construct capacity-building efforts that will provide significant innovation partnership opportunities irrespective of future participation in any NSF Engine.