NSF Tech Accelerators RFI Response Form.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 1 MB Posted
- Attached to
- Request for Information for U. S. National Science Foundation to establish NSF Tech Accelerators
- Solicitation number
- NSF-RFI-FY26-TechAccelerators
- Issued by
-
National Science Foundation
About this file
This is an RFI Response Form for the NSF Tech Accelerators initiative from the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP). Organizations responding to this RFI must submit their completed form via the Other Transaction submission system by 4 p.m. Eastern on July 14, 2026. The form serves a dual purpose: organizations providing feedback only may respond to Sections 1-4 and 6, while organizations interested in becoming an NSF Tech Accelerator must complete all sections.
The response form collects comprehensive information across six major sections. Section 1 requests respondent and organization identification details including name, position, contact information, domestic entity status, and Sam.gov UEI number. Sections 2-4 gather strategic feedback on the program model, organizational structures, and suitable deep-tech areas, with NSF having identified four initial focus areas: agricultural technology (AgTech), materials technology (MaterialsTech), ocean technology (OceanTech), and scientific instrumentation (SciTech). Sections 5a-5e target prospective applicants and require detailed responses on organizational capabilities, technical expertise and domain competence, innovation management expertise, business management capabilities, and entrepreneurial services experience. Responses must be concise, ranging from 1-4 sentences with a maximum of 400 characters without spaces per question. Section 6 allows for additional feedback on questions, areas of concern, or suggestions. The RFI seeks to refine the NSF Tech Accelerator program model and identify qualified organizations capable of supporting deep-tech teams from lab-to-market stages while facilitating significant cost-sharing partnerships and investment crowding-in activities.
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Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| NSF Tech Accelerators RFI FAQ.pdf | ||
| NSF Tech Accelerators_Request for Information.pdf |
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Sheet1
| RFI Response Form |
| Organizations only interested in providing feedback on the NSF Tech Accelerators initiative are encouraged to respond to Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. |
Organizations interested in becoming an NSF Tech Accelerator should respond to all sections.
The RFI response form consists of questions to help NSF TIP refine the NSF Tech Accelerator program model and also to understand potential applicants’ expertise, capabilities and qualifications. A response per question or sub-question is highly encouraged and must be concise with a range of 1-4 sentences with a maximum of 400 characters without spaces. When developing responses to the RFI response form questions, please refer to the information in this RFI. Please do not include hyperlinks in your responses, except for providing your organization website in Section 1 of this form.
| RFI responses must be submitted via the Other Transaction submission system at https://nsfgov.my.site.com/ot/s/, no later than 4 p.m. Eastern on July 14, 2026. | ||
| Section 1: Responder Identification | Section 1 Responses | |
| 1 | Respondent name (first and last) | |
| 2 | Respondent position/title | |
| 3 | Respondent email address | |
| 4 | Respondent phone number | |
| 5 | Organization name | |
| 6 | Organization address | |
| 7 | Organization website | |
| 8 | Is your organization a domestic entity? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] |
| 9 | Sam.gov Unique Entity ID (UEI) Number (e.g., C1234567890A) | |
| Section 2: NSF Tech Accelerator Program Model | Section 2 Responses | |
| 1 | Having reviewed the NSF Tech Accelerators RFI, provide your understanding of the gaps, needs and opportunities in the deep-tech lab-to-market ecosystem not currently being met and how to overcome these with an eye toward impact and speed. | |
| 2 | How would you change the program model described in the RFI, if at all? | |
| 3 | What level of cost-sharing is appropriate, especially for the later stages of technology translation? | |
| Section 3: Organizational Structures | Section 3 Responses | |
| 1 | Who are the key stakeholders necessary to engage in an NSF Tech Accelerator? | |
| 2 | What are the optimal structures for bringing these stakeholders together? | |
| 3 | What are the barriers to doing so presently that the NSF Tech Accelerator initiative could overcome? How best would the program overcome these barriers? | |
| Section 4: Suitable Deep-Tech Areas | Section 4 Responses | |
| 1 | What are deep technologies where investment by NSF will be uniquely catalytic and likely to unlock matching commitments particularly for scaling? | |
| 2 | NSF has identified four initial topics through prior stakeholder engagement, namely agricultural technology (AgTech), materials technology (MaterialsTech), ocean technology (OceanTech) and scientific instrumentation (SciTech) (Refer to Appendix A for details). For each of these areas where you have relevant expertise, describe whether you believe it is ripe for this framework and why. | |
| Section 5.a: Your Own Organization: General Information | Section 5.a Responses | |
| 1 | Broadly describe your organization, capabilities, services offered, ownership and size (e.g., number of employees, number of locations). | |
| 2 | Describe your organization experience over the last 5 years providing the capabilities and expertise identified in the RFI. | |
| a) Was the previous work performed as a lead organization or partner (sub-contractor)? If as a partner, provide context on your role. | ||
| 3 | Besides the teams that will eventually comprise the NSF Tech Accelerator's portfolio, would your organization need to partner/subcontract any of the capabilities, expertise and services required of the NSF Tech Accelerator? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] |
| a) If yes, please describe? | ||
| Section 5.b: Your Own Organization: Technical Expertise and Domain Competence | Section 5.b Responses | |
| 1 | To which of the four NSF Tech Accelerators topics, listed in the RFI, is your organization interested in applying, understanding that NSF may solicit for additional topics depending on the responses to the RFI (*Select either AgTech Accelerator, MaterialsTech Accelerator, OceanTech Accelerator or SciTech Accelerator from the drop-down list). | [Select which topic your organization is applying for here] |
| 2 | Describe your strategic vision for an NSF Tech Accelerator within this domain; list 2-3 potential research topics and the specific barriers to be addressed. | |
| a) Research topic 1: | ||
| b) Research topic 2: | ||
| c) Research topic 3: | ||
| d) Specific barriers: | ||
| 3 | Describe your organization's technical expertise and specific key capabilities in this domain. | |
| 4 | Does your organization have experience conducting technology landscape analyses to identify key technologies and marketplace challenges hindering technology advancement or adoption? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] |
| a) If yes, describe this experience and provide specific examples. | ||
| 5 | Does your organization have experience in cross-cutting key technologies that are likely to contribute to the NSF Tech Accelerator topic (e.g., AI, robotics, biotechnology and quantum)? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] |
| a) If yes, describe this experience. | ||
| Section 5.c: Your Own Organization: Innovation Management Expertise and Capabilities | Section 5.c Responses | |
| 1 | Within the topic/domain you have selected (Section 5.b of this form), does your organization have expertise in managing technology in any of the following stages noted in the RFI? If yes, describe your organization's experience. | Indicate "Yes" or "No" for each of the 3 stages below. If "Yes", include a description: |
| a) Stage 1: Design | ||
| b) Stage 2: Build | ||
| c) Stage 3: Scale | ||
| 2 | Does your organization have a proven track record of scouting novel technologies in this domain and bringing them to the market? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] |
| a) If yes, list up to 10 technologies brought to market within a 5-year period. | ||
| b) What role(s) did your organization play? | ||
| c) How successful were these activities in terms of market adoption (e.g., units, revenue, profits, jobs created)? | ||
| 3 | Describe your organization's expertise in the management of intellectual property (IP) in this domain (e.g., protection of IP, licensing, negotiation). | |
| 4 | Describe your organization's domain-relevant experience with identifying, establishing and managing strategic partnerships. | |
| a) Which of the following organization types does your organization have experience partnering with to support technology translation (e.g., academia, industry, investment, non-profit/philanthropic and/or government)? | ||
| b) Does your organization have experience in developing cost-share investment partnerships? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| c) Has your organization ever formed and managed an advisory board? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| i) If yes, please describe this experience. | ||
| 5 | Describe your organization's expertise in evaluating innovation activities with respect to performance, impact and progress towards goals and objectives. | |
| a) Provide examples of quantitative performance metrics that your organization has leveraged to evaluate success. | ||
| Section 5.d: Your Own Organization: Business Management | Section 5.d Responses | |
| 1 | Describe your organization's experience with coordinating and issuing sub-contracts or other legal agreements with academic institutions, industry, investors or nonprofit entities. | |
| 2 | Does your organization have the following internal capabilities to support an NSF Tech Accelerator? | Select "Yes" or "No" for each of the capabilities listed below: |
| a) Contracting (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| b) Finance/Billing (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| c) Legal Counsel (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| d) People Management (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| e) Project Management (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| 3 | Describe your organization's experience managing proposal review processes, including the recruitment and use of external subject matter experts. | |
| 4 | Describe your organization's expertise in post-award sub-contract management, including programmatic and financial monitoring, milestone and deliverable tracking and oversight and accountability. | |
| a) Provide 2-3 recent examples that demonstrate your organization’s ability to manage multiple complex projects. | ||
| 5 | Describe your organization's experience in communications, outreach and marketing, including the development of engagement strategies, compelling messaging, products and activities. | |
| a) Provide 1-3 recent examples of how your organization grew audiences or increased applications to funding opportunities. | ||
| Section 5.e: Your Own Organization: Entrepreneurial Services | Section 5.e Responses | |
| 1 | Describe your organization's experience providing structured entrepreneurial support (e.g., pitch events, IP support, resources, tools/platforms) to teams pursuing technology translation. | |
| a) Did your organization develop and/or deliver the entrepreneurial services and resources in-house? (Y/N) | [Select Yes or No] | |
| i) If no, who did your organization partner with? | ||
| 2 | Rank your organization's familiarity (1-9) of the following topics with 1 being the most familiar and 9 being the least familiar. | Rank your organization's familiarity on the topics below by adding 1-9 next to each (1 = most familiar, 9 = least familiar): |
| a) Customer discovery, market research | [Select Ranking] | |
| b) Pitching | [Select Ranking] | |
| c) Human-centered design | [Select Ranking] | |
| d) Business model design | [Select Ranking] | |
| e) Go-to-market strategies | [Select Ranking] | |
| f) Product-roadmap development | [Select Ranking] | |
| g) IP strategies and challenges | [Select Ranking] | |
| h) Market readiness | [Select Ranking] | |
| i) Team Science | [Select Ranking] | |
| 3 | Describe your organization's experience providing mentorship or coaching support to research and/or technical teams navigating the lab-to-market pathway (e.g., type of support, best practices, meeting cadence). | |
| Section 6: Feedback | ||
| NSF welcomes any feedback (e.g., questions, areas of concern, suggestions) not covered in the above in this section to be included in of the response form. Each item of feedback must be short and concise, limited to 1-4 sentences with a maximum of 400 characters without spaces. Please select the type of feedback that is being provided in the drop-down list as well. This feedback will assist NSF TIP in improving the NSF Tech Accelerators initiative. | ||
| 1 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 2 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 3 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 4 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 5 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 6 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 7 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 8 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 9 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] | |
| 10 | [Select Question, Area of Concern, or Suggestion] |
&G &"Calibri,Regular"NSF Tech Accelerators RFI Response Form, May 2026 MaterialsTech, OceanTech, AgTech and SciTech&8
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