Organization(s)
The U.S. National Science Foundation Tech Labs (NSF Tech Labs) initiative is designed to launch and scale a new generation of organizations focused on independent research, development and innovation.
These organizations will address technical challenges and bottlenecks that university and industry labs cannot easily solve through traditional methods. The NSF Tech Labs initiative is led by the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP).
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Why Tech Labs?
The Tech Labs initiative positions the agency to support the next generation of American scientific entrepreneurs more effectively. The initiative is grounded in the recognition that many of the technology acceleration and translation challenges of today require new approaches executed by coordinated, interdisciplinary teams.
This new initiative aligns with NSF and administration priorities to explore innovative models for funding and sharing high-value scientific research infrastructure and results.
What makes Tech Labs unique?
The Tech Labs' program design is informed by thoughtful science policy scholarship and entrepreneurship from both emerging and established think tanks, metascience experts, congressionally chartered study commissions and the broader scientific community.
The Tech Labs initiative will support full-time teams of entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers, scientists and engineers who will enjoy operational autonomy as they pursue technical breakthroughs with the potential to reshape or create entire technology sectors.
Tech Labs teams will move beyond traditional research outputs (e.g., publications and datasets), with sufficient resources, financial runway and independence to transition critical technology from early concept or prototypes to commercially viable platforms ready for private investment to help scale and deploy them.
NSF anticipates significant investment in 2026, featuring large, multiyear awards for selected teams.
Shaping the NSF Tech Labs initiative
To help shape the Tech Labs initiative, NSF TIP issued a request for information (RFI) and received numerous positive and constructive responses from the broader community, including academia, policymakers, nonprofits, philanthropy, state and local government, venture capital and the private sector.
To learn more, read the RFI and view recordings of an informational webinar and a Q&A session about the RFI.