NIST calls for research on innovative technology
NIST is collecting reports on topics such as alternative energy, personal medicine and nanotechnology before awarding funding through the Technology Innovation Program.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued its first
request for research papers that address critical national needs, which
will help NIST decide which projects to fund through its new Technology
Innovation Program.
Created in 2007 under the America Competes
Act, TIP is the successor to the Advanced Technology Program. It seeks
to speed development of high-risk but transformative research that
could solve major societal challenges.
The first TIP competition
spans eight categories, including civil infrastructure, alternative
energy, nanotechnology and personalized medicine. In the information
technology-related area of complex networks and systems, NIST said in a
Federal Register notice that the United States increasingly relies on
energy delivery, telecommunications, transportation and finance systems
but has imperfect control over them.
NIST is looking for white
papers that will improve understanding of the technical and
mathematical processes involved in simulating and modeling such systems
because current methodologies are unable to predict and control them.
TIP will make cost-shared awards of no more than 50 percent of total
costs to a wide range of organizations, from for-profit companies to
colleges and universities, national laboratories and nonprofit research
institutions.
However, the lead partner must be a small or
midsize business or an academic institution. Awards will be limited to
no more than $3 million for three years for single-company projects and
no more than $9 million for five years for joint ventures. Earlier in
2008, NIST said it expected to award about $9 million in first-year
funding.
Deadlines for submitting papers span several months, beginning Jan. 15 and ending July 13.