Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2024-34

NSF announces investment roadmap for the Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate

The congressionally mandated report outlines the strategic vision for NSF's new directorate that will, in turn, guide its initial technology investment decisions.  The U.S. National Science Foundation published an investment roadmap for the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), outlining the directorate's strategic vision that will, in turn, guide initial investment decisions focused on advancing U.S. competitiveness in key technology areas.

The "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" authorized the establishment of the TIP Directorate and charged NSF with publishing a report defining how the agency will cultivate targeted investments in key technology areas over a three-year window to increase U.S. competitiveness. Assessments of the key technology areas will be conducted every three years by updating the TIP roadmap, informing the directorate's plans for staging investments for maximal effect on U.S. competitiveness.

To create the roadmap, TIP leveraged a risk analysis to identify key technology areas that most urgently require acceleration to enhance U.S. competitiveness. Additionally, TIP sought to identify the opportunities or vulnerabilities within the key technology areas that were most closely aligned with the directorate's emphasis on use-inspired and translational research and development, as well as associated funding mechanisms. To incorporate feedback from individuals and organizations across all sectors — industry, academia, nonprofits, government, venture capital, civil society and others — TIP gathered feedback through a request for information in summer 2023. This process resulted in identifying four primary key technology areas for near-term TIP investment: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced communications technology, and data storage and management.

The four near-term TIP focus areas will drive the development of new use-inspired and translational funding opportunities, infrastructure investments and workforce development efforts to address key vulnerabilities to U.S. competitiveness. In tandem with these technology-specific investments, many of the TIP Directorate's programs will remain technology-agnostic, welcoming proposals spanning the full breadth of key technology focus areas. For more information about TIP, visit https://new.nsf.gov/tip/latest.

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Join the I-CREATE Accelerator Program

ACCELERATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDICAL DEVICES AND DIAGNOSTICS

Are you working on groundbreaking diagnostics or medical device countermeasures that address public health? I-CREATE is part of a global network of accelerator hubs that provide product development funding, accelerator services, and access to expertise for innovators developing health security solutions. Startups and university-backed projects worldwide can apply for non-dilutive funding ranging from $50K to $200K. This funding supports the development, evaluation, or validation of innovative solutions aligned with BARDA’s mission to enhance pandemic preparedness and health security. I-CREATE supports the development and acceleration of novel diagnostics and medical devices to detect, prevent, or respond to medical consequences that result from health security threats.

Focus areas of interest include new and novel approaches for the detection and diagnosis of pathogens and consequences of biological threats in BARDA’s mission space. Examples of technologies we’re excited to fund:

• Pathogen agnostic approaches
• Lab at home
• Rapid and accurate tests
• Low-cost tests
• Simple and user-friendly sampling approaches (i.e. breath)
• More equitable and accessible innovations

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Improve Endometriosis Diagnostics

with the

NIH RADx® Tech ACT ENDO Challenge

Accelerating the development of innovative technologies for diagnosis of endometriosis. The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx® Tech) Advancing Cures and Therapies and ending ENDOmetriosis diagnostic delays (ACT ENDO) Challenge will award $3.0 million in prizes to accelerate the development of innovative technologies for the diagnosis of endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by the growth of uterine endometrium-like tissue outside the uterus; the often-debilitating condition affects approximately 1 in 10 reproductive-aged women worldwide. Novel approaches are urgently needed to identify those who are afflicted with the condition and to spur the development of new treatments and cures. Successful technologies developed in this Challenge will shorten the time to diagnosis, eliminate the invasiveness of current techniques, and/or improve accessibility, safety, convenience, and costs of diagnosis. Examples of desired technologies include, but are not limited to, imaging technologies, in vitro diagnostic devices, clinical laboratory tests, wearable devices, smartphone-enabled diagnostic tools, integrated sensing technologies, and digital health platforms.

Innovators participating in the RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge will initially submit a proposal describing in detail their prototype[1] diagnostic technology, anticipated clinical impact, and plans for continued development and implementation. Winners of Phase 1 will be invited to deliver a virtual presentation and technology demonstration in Phase 2. Winners of Phase 2 will receive a $100,000 cash prize each and advance to the Phase 3 technology development sprint where they will de-risk and further mature their technologies with support by a RADx Tech Project Team of healthcare technology commercialization and content experts. Participants in Phase 3 will compete for interim and final cash prizes ranging from a cumulative $350,000 - $850,000 each.

NSF: NSF National Resource Coordination Center on Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE Center); Planning Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator (R2I2); Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships; Planning Grants to Create Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Ready Test Beds; NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

NIH: Revolutionizing Innovative, Visionary Environmental Health Research (RIVER) (R35); Tissue Chips in Space 2.0: Translational Multi-Organ Tissue Chip Systems for Drug Efficacy, Toxicity Testing, and Personalized Medicine in Human Health, Aging and Associated Diseases (UG3/UH3)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Enabling Technologies for Electronic Warfare and Surveillance; NRL Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PFP); Machine learning and Optimization-guided Compilers for Heterogeneous Architectures (MOCHA)

Department of Commerce/EDA:  FY 2024 – 2026 - Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Announcement Type: Initial Climate Program Office FY2025 Modeling, Analysis, Predictions, and Projections (MAPP) Program: Climate Change Projections to 2050: Applied Information for Industrial Applications

Department of Energy: Fiscal Year 2024 Vehicle Technologies Office Batteries Funding Opportunity Announcement

DOD unveils new biodefense-focused supercomputer: The Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration have a new supercomputing system focused on biological defense at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Inaugurated on August 1, the system will “provide unique capabilities for large-scale simulation and AI-based modeling for a variety of defensive activities, including bio surveillance, threat characterization, advanced materials development and accelerated medical countermeasures,” per a readout from DOD spokesperson Robert L. Ditchey II.  DOD says that it’s working with NNSA to up the computing capability for national biodefense systems — and that “the collaboration has enabled expanding systems of the same system architecture as LLNL's upcoming exascale supercomputer, El Capitan, which is projected to be the world's most powerful supercomputer when it becomes operational later this year,” the readout states.

The rest of the U.S. government, its allies and partners, as well as academia and industry will all be able to tap into the system. DOD funded the new system out of its Chemical and Biological Defense Program. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Officials urge a quick start migrating to post-quantum encryption: Following the Tuesday release of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s first standardized post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, the Biden administration is angling for a swift migration effort featuring help from private sector partners.  Officials within the Biden administration hosted a conference on Tuesday discussing the algorithms’ release and the crucial next steps public and private sector entities alike should prepare to take to secure their digital networks from a future with a viable quantum computer. The main goal officials discussed was the importance of beginning to transition current encryption methods as soon as possible. 

“Given the potential for quantum computers and the ability they may have to bypass current encryption methodologies, if we start to protect this data in 10 to 20 years, we will be way too late to secure it,” said NIST Director Laurie Locascio. “So to protect our data into the future, we have to start now to secure it, in order to avoid a ‘store now decrypt later’ threat scenario.”

The first series of algorithms suited for post-quantum cryptographic needs debuted today, the culmination of public and private sector partnerships spearheaded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Three algorithms, ML-KEM, formerly labeled CRYSTALS-Kyber, and ML-DSA, formerly labeled CRYSTAL-Dilithium, and SLH-DSA, initially labeled SPHINCS+, were all approved for standardization and are ready for implementation into existing digital networks. A fourth algorithm that made it to the final rounds of NIST’s standardization process, FALCON, is slated for debut later this year. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Former NSA chief wants academia to play larger role in national security: Paul Nakasone is pushing for new initiatives to bolster national security research and workforce recruitment. It begins with a new institute at Vanderbilt University next month. Cyber Command a few years later began deploying its cyber warriors to allied nations in “hunt forward” operations that root out enemy hackers and slow adversaries’ cyber operations while gaining important defensive insights for future cyberwar. But through suggestions by the agencies’ analysts, an idea surfaced to share digital hunting data not just with U.S. intelligence officials, but with the private sector, too. More information is posted on the NextGov website.