Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2025-22

America's Seed Fund, powered by the U.S. National Science Foundation

Up to $2 million in seed funding with zero equity

America’s Seed Fund powered by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awards more than $200 million annually to startups and small businesses, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. Startups working across virtually every discipline of science and technology can receive up to $2 million in non-dilutive funds to support research and development (R&D), helping de-risk technology for commercial success. America’s Seed Fund is congressionally mandated through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. 

About NSF TIP

The NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) seeks to engage all Americans in accelerating key technologies to advance U.S. competitiveness. The directorate partners across sectors to advance three primary focus areas – accelerating technology translation and development, fostering regional innovation and economic growth, and preparing the American workforce for better-quality, higher-wage jobs. For more information about NSF TIP, visit new.nsf.gov/tip/latest.

NSF: Verticals-enabling Intelligent Network Systems (VINES)

NIH: Forecast: Small Business Translator: MedTech and Digital Health Technologies; Forecast: NIH Director’s Transformative Research Awards (R01 Clinical Trial Optional); Forecast: NIH Director’s New Innovator Award Program (DP2 Clinical Trial Optional)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: FY26 Communications and Networking Applied Research; Quantum Characterization, Calibration, and Control (QC3); Research Interests of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Energy, NVIDIA and Dell unveil new planned supercomputer: BERKELEY, Calif. — The public and private sectors have once again come together to support a new “game-changing” supercomputing installation at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which will be called “Doudna.” Doudna is due in 2026 and will be powered by liquid-cooled hardware from Dell and Vera-Rubin central-and general-processing unit software from NVIDIA. These technologies will work in conjunction to advance the scientific work conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley lab, including artificial intelligence training and testing; quantum computing research;molecular dynamics and high energy physics work; and others.  Major players from industry and government, including NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Dell Senior Vice President Paul Perez and Energy Secretary Chris Wright met in Berkeley to unveil Doudna and discuss its future workloads.  The name of the new supercomputer honors Jennifer Doudna, a 2020 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and current partner at Lawrence Berkeley. During a Thursday press conference, Huang emphasized the novel architecture of the planned supercomputer. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Inside OSTP’s ‘promote’ and ‘protect’ science and tech strategy: White House leadership is approaching U.S. global competitiveness in science and technology breakthroughs through a “promote” and “protect” strategy, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios said on Monday. “Essentially, what we have to do as a country is pursue a two part strategy, one of promote and one of protect,” he said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, California.

Kratsios spotlit several policy items that are integral to the Trump administration’s push for U.S.-led tech dominance. To ensure the U.S. is leading in both the creation and adoption of critical technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum information sciences, nuclear energy and biotechnology, OSTP intends to use a “whole-of-government” approach. “First and foremost, the president wants us to win on these key, critical and emerging technologies,” he said.  In order to do so, the government is poised to promote the U.S. research and development landscape through continued federal funding to help accelerate scientific and fundamental breakthroughs in emerging tech areas.  “The U.S. government spends about $150 [billion] to $170 billion a year on R&D,” he said. “We need to direct that and prioritize those dollars into the areas that are most important for [the] national security mission.” More information is posted on the NextGov website.