The US National Science Foundation today announced the Accelerating Research Translation, or ART, program, a new $60 million investment led by NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. The program will support institutions of higher education to build the capacity and infrastructure needed to strengthen and scale the translation of basic research outcomes into impactful solutions and practice.
Through ART, NSF will provide up to $6 million per award over four years to academic institutions that have demonstrated strong basic science and engineering research but are eager to grow their translational research activities and develop the associated requisite infrastructure.
"NSF aspires to help academic institutions build the pathways and support structures to create societal and economic impacts at speed and scale," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "The ART program will directly support this objective by growing capacity to accelerate the translation of research results to practice."
“The National Science Foundation’s new ART program directly addresses a long-standing gap between academic research and the solutions our country needs,” said Arati Prabhakar, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. “This program is an important part of advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to accelerate science and technology innovation in every part of America.”
The ART program seeks proposals that have a blend of:
- Activities that will help develop and strengthen institutional infrastructure to build and sustainably grow the institutional capacity for research translation in the short and long terms.
- Educational and training opportunities — especially for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers — to enable individuals to become entrepreneurs and/or seek use-inspired and translational research-oriented careers in the public and private sectors.
- Specific translational research activities that show significant promise for translating research results to practice in the short term.
"The ART program aligns with the goals of the 'CHIPS and Science Act,'" said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. "The program will help grow capacity at institutions of higher education, thereby enabling identification of academic research with potential for technology transfer, ensuring availability of staff with technology transfer expertise, and supporting education and training of entrepreneurial students and faculty, among other outcomes."
