The NSF PFI:BIC program supports academe-industry partnerships to carry out translational research to advance, adapt, & integrate technology (ies) into a human-centered smart service system

Grants are for up to $1,000,000 for 3 years. There is a single funding competition each fiscal year.  

Important Deadlines

Letter of Intent Deadline Date:  October 14, 2016

Full Proposal Deadline Date:  November 16, 2016

We have revised the language from prior solicitations to make the requirements clearer.  Research teams that are ready to test their novel fundamental discoveries in a real life situation and use the funds to adapt the technology accordingly as part of the project are appropriate candidates for this competition.  

While PFI:BIC funds research partnerships working on projects that operate in the post-fundamental/translational space, the proposers still must be mindful of the state of the art and the competitive landscape and be able to position the technology against important system performance parameters (why the proposed solution could work better than what is available today). These projects are in the early translation space. A clear path to commercialization does not need to be a central part of this proposal, some level of risk is desirable if the technology promises high reward.

At least one industrial partner with commercial revenues is minimally required for this program but the award goes to the academic institution.  Small businesses can receive sub-awards but their involvement must be above and beyond showing a real partnership and interest in the project.

The word “service” is used here as a metaphor for value creation and benefit to humans generated by the incorporation of the technology into the system. The selected “service system” should function as a technology test bed. This "smart" service system is one that can augment human capabilities to identify, learn, adapt, monitor and make decisions.

Therefore, it is essential that this research incorporates human factors considerations to assure the system's efficacy. The research tasks in turn might generate additional discoveries inspired by the interaction of humans and technology.

A highly interdisciplinary collaboration is needed to achieve successful integration into a smart service system. Thus, required research components to be included in PFI:BIC projects are as follows:

·       Engineered system design and integration;

·       Computing, sensing, and information technologies; and

·       Human factors, behavioral sciences, or cognitive engineering.

Proposals with a single PI tend to be less successful as truly interdisciplinary research is expected to cover the components above.

Please note that there is a maximum of 2 proposals per academic institution as leading institution, and there is no limit for participating institutions as co-PIs or consultants.

Link to the full text of the solicitation:
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16591/nsf16591.htm

INFORMATIONAL WEBINARS:

The webinar will provide details related to the PFI:BIC solicitation.

There will be two (2) Webinars, each based on the same set of slides.  The preliminary dates for the webinars are as follows:

1. Wednesday, September 7, 2016, at 11:30-am -1:00 pm EDT

- HOST: ALEXANDRA MEDINA-BORJA

2. Friday, September 9, 2016, at 2:00 pm-3:30 pm EDT

- HOST: ALEXANDRA MEDINA-BORJA

Registration information will be available soon on the program web page. Please join 5 to 15 minutes before the start of the webinar to ensure that you will be able to connect properly.

 

Additional program information:

 

Link to the Program Web Page:  https://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/pfi/bic.jsp

 

Link to the LinkedIn Group with additional information and a community of interest about this award:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups/5109582

 

Link to the anatomy of a PFI:BIC project:
https://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/pfi/bic/AnatomyofPFI_BIC.jpg

 

Link to press releases about this program’s prior awardees: 

https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136268&org=NSF&from=news

And

https://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=138849

As always, feel free to contact any of the cognizant program officers with questions,