NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) 2023 (Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track)

To:	Chairs and Administrators, Departments in the Biological and Physical Sciences; Associate Deans for Research; College/School Research Administrators
From:	Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Education
Date:	April 06, 2022
Subject:	NSF Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) 19-506

Deadline

Deadline for Internal Review:

May 11, 2022

Project Description

You will only need to submit your project for internal review if you are pursuing the Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) track

The Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) Program within the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) 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.

PFI has five broad goals, as set forth by the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act of 2017 (“the Act”, S.3084 — 114th Congress; Sec. 602. Translational Research Grants): (1) identifying and supporting NSF-sponsored research and technologies that have the potential for accelerated commercialization; (2) supporting prior or current NSF-sponsored investigators, institutions of higher education, and non-profit organizations that partner with an institution of higher education in undertaking proof-of-concept work, including the development of technology prototypes that are derived from NSF-sponsored research and have potential market value; (3) promoting sustainable partnerships between NSF-funded institutions, industry, and other organizations within academia and the private sector with the purpose of accelerating the transfer of technology; (4) developing multi-disciplinary innovation ecosystems which involve and are responsive to the specific needs of academia and industry; (5) providing professional development, mentoring, and advice in entrepreneurship, project management, and technology and business development to innovators.

This solicitation offers two broad tracks, PFI-Technology Translation (PFI-TT) and PFI-Research Partnerships (PFI-RP), for proposals in pursuit of the aforementioned goals.

The PFI-RP track requires the creation and implementation of new multidisciplinary, multi-organization partnerships between academia, industry and other public and private entities to pursue new innovative technology development projects.  An organization may submit no more than one (1) proposal to the PFI-RP track per submission deadline.

Submission deadlines are now available in January and July.

Comparative Requirements of PFI-TT and PFI-RP Proposals

Proposal Item	PFI-TT	PFI-RP
Funding:	Up to $250,000 per award	Up to $550,000 per award
Award term	18-24 months	36 months
Who May Submit Proposals	All eligible organizations	All eligible organizations
Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization	None	One proposal per submission deadline
Limit on Number of Proposals per PI or Co-PI	2 PFI-TT, or 1 PFI-TT and 1 PFI-RP	1 PFI-RP, or 1 PFI-TT and 1 PFI-RP
NSF Lineage Requirement	Yes	Yes
Industrial Partner	Encouraged but not required	Required
Research Partner	Encouraged but not required	Strongly encouraged
Collaborative Research Agreement (CRA)	Submitting organization’s AOR must determine whether a CRA is needed.	Required for Industrial Partner and Research Partners

PFI-RP projects:

Amount per Award: Up to $550,000.00
Duration of Award: 3 Years
Number of Awards: 10-15 Awards

Eligibility

PFI-RP proposals must include, without exception, a co-PI who is a member or employee of the required Industrial Partner organization. PFI-RP proposals without an Industrial Partner co-PI may be returned without review.

An organization may not submit more than one (1) new or resubmitted PFI-RP proposal to a deadline of this solicitation

Additional Eligibility Info:

NSF Lineage Requirement: All proposals submitted to the PFI program must meet a lineage requirement under one of the following two paths: (1) NSF-supported research results, or (2) NSF-supported customer discovery results through the NSF I-Corps Teams Program.

1. NSF-supported research results in all fields of science and engineering: Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI must have had an NSF award that ended no more than seven (7) years prior to the full proposal deadline date or be a current NSF award recipient. The proposed technology development project must be derived from the research results and/or discoveries from this underlying NSF award.

OR

2. NSF-supported customer discovery results through the NSF I-Corps Teams Program. The Principal Investigator (PI) or a co-PI must have been a member of an award under the NSF I-Corps Teams Program (https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/teams.jsp). The PI or co-PI must have fully completed the training provided under the I-Corps Team award within the past four (4) years. The customer discovery activities performed under the NSF-funded I-Corps award must be based on the technology that is proposed to be translated within the PFI proposal.

The following programs do not meet the NSF Lineage Requirement: the I-Corps Nodes award, training at an NSF I-Corps Site, any I-Corps-related training imparted by federal agencies or organizations other than NSF, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), SBIR/STTR, and any prior PFI award.

 

Website

The following link contains additional information on the program and specific application instructions:
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19506/nsf19506.htm

Internal Competition Application Instructions

Sponsor Deadlines

Applications are due to National Science Foundation by July 13, 2022.

Questions?

Contact grants@research.wisc.edu.