Request for Information on the Tech Labs Initiative for the U. S. National Science Foundation

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), through its Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), intends to launch the Tech Labs program: a bold, flexible, and outcomes-driven initiative designed to accelerate practical research with real-world applications. Tech Labs will support full-time research, development and innovation (RDI) teams focused on overcoming persistent barriers to the commercialization of emerging technologies. These teams will benefit from operational autonomy, milestone-based funding and the ability to engage across academia, industry, national laboratories, and nonprofit sectors.

The U.S. National Science Foundation seeks input from academia, nonprofits, philanthropy, state and local government, venture capital, the private sector and any other interested parties to inform the agency’s development of the NSF Tech Labs program. Response to this Request for Information (RFI) is not required to submit a future proposal to the Tech Labs program.

The attachment of this Request for Information (RFI) includes the details and scope of this effort, as well as the applicable questions to be answered by the community.  Please review the attachment for more information. 

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. Pursuant to its OT authority, NSF may utilize information submitted in response to this RFI to support further evaluation and potentially inform a targeted solicitation strategy, ensuring an agile and flexible approach. Submissions may be evaluated, selected, or excluded from future discussions related to this effort.

Any information received becomes the property of the Government and will not be returned to the submitter. NSF may share responses with other parts of the Government or unattributable portions of responses outside of the Government as helpful in finalizing the design or implementation of the program.

Submission Details: Please submit your responses to this RFI via email to NSF Tech Labs at TechLabs@nsf.gov by 20 January 2026, at 03:00 PM Eastern Time. When submitting your response, please ensure that attachments do not exceed 20 MB in size and reference NSF-Tech Labs-FY26-RFI in the email subject.

Submission Formatting: All papers must be presented on pages not exceeding 8 ½ by 11 inches with the type size for text no smaller than 11 points. Margins must not be less than one inch on each side. There is a page limit of five pages. All pages must be numbered. Text may be single or double-spaced. Any diagrams, graphs, or charts may not contain text smaller than 11 points.

NSF TIP Tech Labs RFI Webinars:  

On December 17, 2025, the NSF TIP team hosted a webinar. The webinar recording and slides are available at https://www.nsf.gov/tip/resources#nsf-tech-labs-initiative-3a9.

Join the NSF TIP team for a second webinar, including a presentation on key materials in the RFI. A Q&A will follow the presentation. Respondents are recommended to review the RFI document before the webinar to maximize the effectiveness of the Q&A session.  

January 14, 2026, 2-3 PM EST  

Register here: https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_rjzKZULsRzaKB8g4F1tzBQ