Fueling emerging technologies to market
The U.S. National Science Foundation Tech Accelerators invest in deep technology topics critical to national security and spurring U.S. competitiveness and economic growth. Specific deep technology topics are determined based on the current technology landscape, including market need and saturation, projected technological growth, current industry investment at the pre-seed, seed and Series A stages and demonstrates viability for these areas by, in part, “crowding in” investment from venture and other funders over time. NSF Tech Accelerators topics must also align with the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnership (NSF TIP), NSF and administration priorities.
In its inaugural year, NSF published a request for information (RFI) on SAM.gov to initiate the identification of prospective organizations to lead the first set of NSF Tech Accelerators aligned to the four initial topics—agricultural technology (AgTech), materials technology (MaterialsTech), ocean technology (OceanTech) and scientific instrumentation (SciTech)—and collect input from the community on the suitability of other topics ripe for the NSF Tech Accelerators framework.
Interested in establishing and operating an NSF Tech Accelerator? NSF TIP is seeking request for information (RFI) responses from prospective organizations aligned to the four initial topics. Visit SAM.gov to learn more.
Transforming farming through innovative technology
The NSF AgTech Accelerator aims to harness expertise across the agricultural and technological sectors to commercialize deep technologies that bolster a resilient food system. A thriving agriculture sector is essential for the health, security and prosperity of the U.S., especially considering the research and development (R&D) efforts by other countries that are challenging American agricultural dominance and national security. Advances in key technologies, including biotechnology, AI and robotics, have the potential to propel U.S. production of food, feed and fuel to new frontiers. Such advances can be leveraged to enhance productivity and yield, optimize nutritional content and food quality, strengthen domestic agricultural supply chains and expand high-value export markets for U.S. products and technologies.
Venture capital funding for AgTech has stalled over the past few years, creating a growing chasm between technological advancement and widespread adoption, with investors prioritizing later-stage startups. The NSF AgTech Accelerator will fill this gap by capitalizing on Administration investments in key technology areas, de-risking early-stage technologies and prioritizing implementation and adoption across the entire food and agriculture system.
Accelerating breakthroughs in advanced materials and next-generation manufacturing
The NSF MaterialsTech Accelerator focuses on reducing the time to market for materials with superior or tailored properties beyond conventional options. Advanced and next-generation materials and their application are critical to U.S. leadership in competitive sectors such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, biotechnology and nuclear energy. This is a deep-tech field with longer R&D cycles and limited short-term return on investment (ROI) due to combined technological and commercialization challenges. Thus, the NSF Tech Accelerators' model is ideally suited for focused intervention, positioning technologies for market adoption and future private investment.
The scope of the NSF MaterialsTech Accelerator encompasses the commercialization of entirely new materials, including nanomaterials, composites, metals and metamaterials, as well as the innovative modification, optimization and/or cross-sector use of existing materials that unlock new performance capabilities and rapid market expansion. The application of physics-aware and domain-informed AI and/or digital twins may be appropriate. Initiatives spearheaded by NSF and other federal agencies, such as the NSF Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future program, are generating a large volume of research projects primed for translation, thereby positioning this topic for a NSF Tech Accelerator.
Powering the future of the ocean economy
The NSF OceanTech Accelerator focuses on the commercialization of novel technologies that advance key economic and national security-related ocean operations in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and the Great Lakes. Covering 71% of Earth's surface, the ocean is a vast reservoir of potential economic development. Increasing global demand for seafood, critical minerals and other marine resources and the emergence of maturing sectors, such as marine biotechnology, create opportunities to strengthen U.S. global leadership in the development and export of novel ocean technologies.
The scope of the NSF OceanTech Accelerator encompasses ocean sensors, advanced modeling and digital twins, marine biotechnology and autonomous/remote systems. The oceanographic research community has a track record of creating new technologies for scientific applications that could be translated for market adoption by ocean-based industries, providing significant opportunities to leverage existing federal research investments and maximize the economic benefit of each dollar spent. The NSF OceanTech Accelerator will de-risk early-stage ocean technologies and advance multiuse solutions that will further ocean exploration and deep-sea mapping for seabed minerals and other resources, grow shipbuilding, marine robotics and other ocean-based U.S. industries and support data-informed decision-making. In addition to supporting economic growth, these technologies will bolster national security by enabling threat detection and marine intelligence and safeguarding food security through restoring seafood competitiveness.
Deploying tools that revolutionize America's scientific enterprise
The NSF SciTech Accelerator focuses on the commercialization of novel scientific instruments, tools and technologies to support breakthrough discoveries. American leadership in science and technology is pivotal for U.S. competitiveness, national security and the nation's position at the vanguard of scientific progress. To date, scientific progress is constrained by limitations in the precision, resolution and speed of instruments, affecting repeatability and reliability of measurements. Critical sensing and manipulation capabilities remain out of reach and the instruments that do exist are largely proprietary, closed systems with little capacity for adaptation or interoperability. Data processing, including algorithms and AI, also requires updating. The result is a fragmented instrumentation ecosystem across incompatible platforms not architected for the pace and interconnectedness of modern scientific inquiry.
The scope of the NSF SciTech Accelerator is intentionally broad to drive impact across a range of research fields through the development of cutting-edge scientific instruments built on open standards, modular architectures and shared tool chains, along with associated analytics capabilities. Tools and applications developed and brought to market via the SciTech Accelerator will lower barriers to access, promote cross-disciplinary adaptation, generate data that are interoperable and reusable by design, facilitate precision manipulations and enable the emergence of fully autonomous laboratories. Ultimately, the outcomes of the SciTech Accelerator will change the way all sectors of America's scientific enterprise interact, improve precision and expedite results, while co-creating new markets for tools and technologies with the research and private sectors.