1. Industrial Innovation and
Partnerships Division at the NSF
Karlene A. Hoo, Ph.D.
PD: Accelerating Innovation Research
Univ. Nebraska Lincoln
June 20, 2012
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 1

2. National Science Foundation
National Science Board Office of the
Inspector General
Director Office of
Dr. Subra Suresh Cyberinfrastructure
Deputy Director Office of International
Dr. Cora Marrett Science and Engineering
Office of the General
Counsel
Directorate for
Directorate for
Directorate for Computer and Office of Legislative and
Education and Public Affairs
Biological Information
Human
Sciences Science and
Resources Office of Equal
Engineering
Opportunity Programs
Directorate for Directorate for Office of Integrative
Directorate Social, Activities
Directorate for Mathematical
for Geosciences and Physical Behavioral,
Engineering Sciences and Economic Office of Polar Programs
Sciences
Office of Budget, Finance,
and Award Management
Office of Information and
Resource Management

3. Directorate of Engineering
Office of the Assistant Director
Emerging Frontiers in
Thomas Peterson Senior Advisor for
Research and Innovation
(EFRI) Deputy Assistant Director Nanotechnology
Kesh Narayanan
Chemical,
Civil, Electrical, Industrial
Engineering Bioengineering,
Mechanical, and Communications,
Education and Environmental, Innovation and
Manufacturing and Cyber
Centers and Transport Partnerships
Innovation Systems
(EEC) Systems (IIP)
(CMMI) (ECCS)
(CBET)
3

4. Industrial Innovation and Partnerships
Division Director
Grace Wang Assessment
and Diversity
Academic Cheryl Albus Small Business
Partnerships Partnerships
Donald Senich Joe Hennessey
Program
Einstein Fellows
Support
Robert Pauley
Grant Opportunities Manager Nanotechnology,
Mark Supal
for Academic Amanda May Advanced Materials &
Liaison with Industry Manufacturing (NM)
Operations Ben Schrag, Vacancy
Donald Senich
Specialist
Greg Misiorek
Industry/University
Biological and Chemical
Cooperative Technology (BC)
Research Centers Ruth Shuman, Prakash
Rathindra DasGupta Experts/Special Topics
Balan, Jesus Soriano
Larry Hornak George Vermont
Electronics, Information &
Innovation Cluster Analysts Communication
Cheryl Albus Alex Schwarzkopf, Technology (EI)
Kevin Simmons Juan Figueroa, Murali Nair,
Glenn Larsen
Partnerships for Innovation: Education Applications
Partnerships for Innovation: I-Corps
Accelerating Innovation (EA)
Building Innovation Capacity Errol Arkilic,
Research (PFI-AIR) Glenn Larsen
(PFI-BIC) Sara Nerlove Rathindra DasGupta
Karlene Hoo
4

5. IIP Vision & Mission
• Vision
- To be the pre-eminent federal resource driving the
expansion of our nation’s innovation capacity by
stimulating partnerships among industry, academe,
investors, government and other stakeholders
• Mission
- IIP will enhance our nation’s economic
competitiveness by catalyzing the transformation of
discovery into societal benefits through stimulating
partnerships and promoting learning environments
for innovators
5

6. Research: transformation of
money ( into knowledge
Innovation: transformation of
knowledge into money (
Geoffrey Nicholson
3M Retired
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 6

7. NSF Innovation Investments
I-Corps
I/UCRC
NSF overall
SBIR
ERC
PFI: BIC,
PFI: AIR
GOALI
STTR
STC
Industry
Resources Invested
Investors
Translational
Research
Foundations
Small Business
University
Discovery Development Commercialization
See http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/innovation.pdf

8. NSF Innovation Investments
I-Corps
I/UCRC
NSF overall
SBIR
ERC
PFI: BIC,
PFI: AIR
GOALI
STTR
STC
Industry
Resources Invested
Investors
Translational
translation/transition/transformation/transfer
Research
Foundations
Small Business
University
Discovery Development Commercialization
See http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/innovation.pdf

9. IIP Innovation Programs
• GOALI
• PFI: BIC
• PFI: AIR
• I/UCRC
• I-Corps
• SBIR/STTR

10. IIP Academic Programs
Academic Programs
07070000 FY 2010 FY 2011
PFI: AIR $11,550,000
GOALI $4,932,355 $4,701,057
I-Corps $450,000
I/UCRC $7,711,588 $8,467,732
I/UCRC Fundamental
Research $674,852 $1,362,654
PFI: BIC $9,245,760 $7,597,718
Total $22,564,555 $34,129,161

11. Funding
• Proposals must address NSF goals
– Transform the Frontiers
– Innovate for Society
• NSF merit review criteria
– Intellectual merit
– Societal impact
• Funding may be found in ENG and
crosscutting/interdisciplinary programs
Directorate for Engineering 11

12. GRANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR
ACADEMIC LIAISON WITH
INDUSTRY
Please contact the appropriate disciplinary program office to obtain information about
current deadline dates.
Please discuss with the appropriate disciplinary program office prior to submitting a
request for supplemental funding.

13. Grants Opportunities for Academic
Liaison with Industry (GOALI)
Co-funding opportunities for academic proposals
 Goal
 To promote university-industry partnerships by providing
project funds or fellowships/traineeships to support an
eclectic mix of industry-university linkages
 Three mechanisms
 Faculty and students go to industry
 Industrial scientist and/or engineer go to the university
 Industry-University Collaborative Research Projects
13

14. Grant Opportunities for Academic
Liaison with Industry (GOALI)
• Industry-University collaboration required for research and education
aspects of the proposal
• Required matching funds from industry for residence period in
industry
• NSF support university participation
• Opportunities for future employment of students
• Dissemination Plan
Targets high-risk/high-gain research with a focus on fundamental research and direct
transfer of new knowledge between academe and industry.
Funds transformative research that lies beyond that which industry would normally
fund.
14

15. GOALI: Distribution of 2009-2011
Awards by Directorate / Division
50
Award Frequency
40
2009 GOALI Data 2009-2011
30 2010
2011
20
10
0
CCF CNS CBET CMMI ECCS EFRI IIP CHE DMR SES SMA
CISE CISE ENG ENG ENG ENG ENG MPS MPS SBE SBE
15

16. Why should you be interested?
• Potential of wealth creation
• Creation of new knowledge
• Intellectually right thing to do
• Potential employment opportunities
• Making a real impact
Innovation through Partnerships 16

17. Designed to accelerate innovation that results in the
creation of new wealth and the building of strong
local, regional, and national economies.

18. ACA: Sec 508 Partnerships for Innovation
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 18

19. Innovation Strategy for Sustainable Growth and
Creation of Quality Jobs
EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT: SEPT 2009
•Catalyzing breakthroughs for national priorities
•Promoting competitive markets that spur productive entrepreneurship
•Investing in building blocks of American Innovation
OSTP & NEC RFI: seeks public comments on whether proof-of-
concept centers can be a means of stimulating the
commercialization of early-stage technologies by bridging the
“valley of death.”OSTP & NEC RFI: 3/25/10 (75:57)
In response to this …
19
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships

20. PFI: Umbrella of subprograms
BIC AIR
Technology Research
Translation Alliance
• BIC: Building Innovation Capacity
• AIR: Accelerating Innovation Research
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 20

21. IIP’s Investments in an Innovation Ecosystem
Shared goals: INNOVATION and PARTNERSHIPS
•Promotes collaborations to stimulate the translation and
transfer of existing knowledge created by the research
enterprise into
–market-valued solutions
–potential commercial reality and spinoffs
•Integrates multiple disciplines
•Public- private partnerships
-industries, practitioners, and others
•Focus on research/technology platforms that enable
engineered systems
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 21

22. PFI: BIC (NSF 12-511)
Building Innovation Capacity
•Core
–Academic researchers
–At least 2 or more existing small businesses
–Others: businesses, profit, not-for-profit, large, small, …
–$600K/2-years per award
–LOI required, Full proposal
•Goals
– Joining of academic and business perspectives
–Businesses: “Takeaways” with potential to help them thrive and grow
–Academics: Increased agility in adapting their existing research
discoveries into market-valued solutions
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 22

23. PFI: AIR Technology Translation
(NSF 12-571)
•Core
– Single investigator or small groups of faculty
– Current or 4-years prior NSF research award recipient
– $150K/18-months per award
– LOI required (Sept 12, 2012, Mar 13, 2013)
– Full proposal (Nov 13, 2012, May 15, 2013)
•Goals
– To complete the necessary research such as proof-of-concept,
prototyping and/or scale-up that addresses real-world constraints
– To move more research discoveries on the path to becoming new
technologies
– To create entrepreneurial small groups of faculty
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 23

24. PFI: AIR Research Alliance
(NSF 12-571)
•Core
– NSF-funded research alliance
–Others: another research entity, small business consortia,
local/regional innovation entity
– Third-party investment (1:1) - 75% cash match
•Goals
– Creates an innovation ecosystem
–Translates and transfers existing research discoveries to
commercial reality and potential spin-offs
– Builds new partnerships
– Develops entrepreneurial culture
Industrial Innovation & Partnerships 24

25. PFI: AIR Current Awards
Industrial Innovation and Partnerships 25

26. Letter of Intent Due (required)
Planning Grant : must complete a workshop
Full Center Proposal: must complete boot camp

27. I/UCRCs enable discovery and
innovation through collaboration
Key Features:
•Small investment from NSF
Government
•Primarily supported by industry center NSF
members
•A shared portfolio of pre-competitive
research projects
•Research “franchise”
I/UCRC
Discovery
&
Innovation
University
Members
Members
Single or multi-university Include industry, other agencies (state &
federal), and other organizations

28. I/UCRC: Funding opportunity for academic
institutions
• Goals
– Develop long-term partnerships among
industry, academe and government
– Leverage NSF funds with industry to support
graduate students performing industrially-
relevant research
• 60 active centers (172 sites)
28

29. I/UCRC: Leveraging of other NSF support
Some I/UCRCs have indicated that their current or past research results
were enabled by research results or infrastructure supported by other
divisions or Programs within NSF
Innovation through Partnerships 29

30. National Distribution of I/UCRCs
ENG CISE
60 Centers Plus Participating Over 760
172 I/UCRC Sites International Sites Memberships

31. I/UCRC: Technology sectors
• Advanced Electronics (5)
• Advanced Manufacturing & Materials (15)
• Biotechnology (3)
• Civil Infrastructure Systems (3)
• Energy and Environment (9)
• Fabrication & Processing (1)
• Health and Safety (2)
• Information, Communication and Computing (14)
• System Design and Simulation (4)

32. NSF 11-560
To identify NSF-funded researchers who will receive additional support - in the form of
mentoring and funding - to accelerate innovation that can attract subsequent third-party
funding.

33. I-Corps (Background)
 Leveraging NSF-lineage of previous support
 Small grants to focus on creating a
commercialization roadmap
 Quick assessment
 Team-based
 Curriculum-focused

34. I-Corps Team
 Entrepreneurial Lead
 Post-doc or Student to move it forward
 I-Corps Mentor
 Domain-relevant volunteer guide
 Proximity is better
 Principal Investigator
 Researcher with current or previous award

35. I-Corps Curriculum
 Based on hypothesis-driven business-model discovery
 Pioneered by Stanford and Steve Blank
 Focuses on addressing market risk
 Requires getting out of the lab
 AT LEAST 15 hours of prep per week
 Mandatory for all I-Corps participants
 First 3 Days (Stanford, …)
 5 follow-on webinars with team presentations
 2 Days (lessoned learned) in Stanford, …)

36. I-Corps Approach
 Emphasizes experiential learning and feedback
 Challenges teams to create their own business
model canvas
 Values revision and continual improvement of
business development elements
 Expects teams to be inquisitive, motivated and
capable of self management
 Full contact immersive class

37. NSF I-Corps Program Cohorts
Directorates Represented
9
9
1st cohort
12
8 2nd cohort
7 10
6
4 8
5 4
4 6
3 2
4
2 1 1
2
1
0 0
CISE ENG MPS SBE BIO EHR CISE ENG MPS SBE BIO
Additional Funding Proposals
15
1st cohort 11
7
10
5 2
1
0
SBIR Licensing Potential Pending Potential
Agreement Candidates for
Private Funding

38. Feedback from the I-Corps Kickoff
 Your business “plan” is irrelevant… the truth is out
there
 Its all about customer development
 Don’t confuse search with execution
 Getting out of the Office is foreign to many
 Getting critical feedback is tough

39. NSF 12-548
Stimulates technological innovation in the private sector

40. NSF SBIR/STTR Programs
Invest in for-profit small businesses
To Catalyze Technology
Commercialization

41. IA IA
IA = Innovation Accelerator

42. SBIR: Program Status
• Total funding ~ $125 million (FY 2011)
• 277 Phase I awards
• 107 Phase II awards

43. SBIR: Technology Thrusts
• Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, and
Manufacturing
• Electronic, Information, and Communication
Technologies
• Biological and Chemical Technologies
• Education Applications

44. SBIR: Funding and Review Criteria
• High-risk, high-payback innovations
• High commercialization potential is a must
• Proposals should demonstrate:
– Sound research plan
– Highly qualified technical and business team
– Marketable product with significant commercialization
potential

45. Questions?
• GOALI - grant opportunities for academic liaison with
industry
• PFI: BIC - partnerships for innovation: building innovation
capacity
• PFI: AIR - partnerships for innovation: accelerating
innovation research (choice 1: Technology
Translation, choice 2: Research Alliance)
• I/UCRC - industry, university cooperative research centers
• I-Corps - innovation corps
• SBIR/STTR - small business innovation research/small
business technology transfer research