Accelerating transformative technologies — and strengthening America’s new innovation frontier

Last week, the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) marked its third year of impact, building upon what is now 75 years of NSF’s historic mission to foster and strengthen U.S. innovation in science and technology.

NSF TIP has put new regions across America on the map as national and world leaders in technology and innovation, accelerated the translation of research results to the market and society – including through a portfolio of over a thousand startups and small businesses that are driving research and development in technologies essential to American competitiveness – and trained Americans with the requisite skills for new jobs in the modern economy.

To learn more about how TIP has moved the needle for American innovation since its establishment, download the TIP impact one-pager or dig into the details on the breadth and depth of TIP's investments across the nation through the TIP Investments pilot.

As TIP marks another year, our team is pleased to release the TIP second annual report, sharing about the Directorate’s impact and outcomes from August 2023 through August 2024. The report details TIP’s investments across its three pillars of focus — fostering regional innovation leading to economic growth, accelerating technology translation and development and preparing a competition-ready U.S. workforce. During that year, TIP invested in over 400 startups to de-risk technologies, jumpstarted nine NSF Regional Innovation Engines and 58 teams planning for future Engines, and provided over 1,000 internships or STEM experiential education opportunities for all Americans, ranging from trainees to those in the workforce looking to pivot into a technology or technology-adjacent sector. These efforts have spurred billions in follow-on investment, attracting matching commitments from industry, philanthropy and local governments, and leveraging over $1 billion in partnership funding to support the agency’s mission.

In the year ahead, we are committed to continuing the essential work to bolster America’s position as the global dominant leader in science and technology. Over the past few weeks, we have announced several new funding opportunities and investment portfolios. Together with our partners from across government, private industry and philanthropy, TIP is pushing forward on creating the conditions for economic prosperity for all Americans while ensuring that our nation is positioned to lead in the technologies that are poised to reshape the way we live our daily lives.

As we move into the second half of 2025, we look forward to sharing additional announcements about the progress we’re making in TIP to advance novel approaches to funding science and technology, engage new partners with more flexible funding mechanisms, and involve a range of organizations and people across America who can participate in the essential enterprise of building our nation’s competitive edge in science, technology and innovation.

With thanks,

Erwin Gianchandani
NSF Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships

Gracie Narcho
NSF Deputy Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships

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