Cross-Border Research Translation and Mentorship Initiative

NSF has advanced the full spectrum of fundamental research and education in all fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, for more than 70 years – from foundational, curiosity-driven research that has led to new knowledge about our world, to use-inspired, solution-oriented research that has directly impacted people's everyday lives. At every stage, investments across this spectrum have been deeply intertwined.  

With this release, NSF seeks the support of a contractor with expertise in technology markets and research translation to develop, execute and oversee activities to translate research for societal and economic benefit and help international teams of researchers and innovators progress at speed and scale through lab-to-market pathways. The anticipated contractor will also serve as a point of contact for domestic or international teams and for NSF program staff and will be expected to leverage its robust research translation experience and technology market expertise within the U.S., European Union, and the United Kingdom (UK) in furtherance of program goals.  

This market intelligence effort is an opportunity for NSF to hear from and receive feedback from proposers as well as the broader community regarding: 

1. Prospective Vision and Capabilities: Please provide your own vision in up to three pages for development of a program to support translation activities to develop, execute and oversee activities to translate research for societal and economic benefit and help international teams of researchers and innovators progress at speed and scale through lab-to-market pathways. Include what specific capabilities, resources, experience, networks and activities you would utilize to support this program. Responses are optional but will help NSF gain a better understanding of the universe of organizations capable of and interested in supporting this and future technology translation activities. While this market intelligence is focused on international teams of researchers, organizations may also offer their input on non-international research translation vision and capabilities.  

2. Feedback: If you have feedback, questions, areas of concern, or suggestions on how this program could be structured as outlined in the draft Statement of Objectives, this is an opportunity to provide that feedback. Questions and feedback may be submitted directly in response to this market intelligence. Questions and feedback may be included at the end of the Prospective Vision and Capabilities document (and does not count towards the page limit) or separately.  

Companies and individuals are welcome to submit information regarding Prospective Vision and Capabilities or Feedback, or both.   

This posting shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a request for quotations or proposals. No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses received to this posting. The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this market intelligence will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Failure to respond to this market intelligence will not preclude participation in any future solicitation.  

Any information received becomes the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response.  

Submission Details: Please submit your responses to this market intelligence via email to Ben Patterson at bpatters@nsf.gov before Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time.  When submitting your response, please ensure that attachments do not exceed 20 MB in size and reference NSF-OTAMI-FY25-01 in the email subject.