Submit your idea to the NSF Convergence Accelerator DCL/RFI (NSF 22-021)

The NSF Convergence Accelerator issued a Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 22-021) /Request For Information (DCL/RFI) to capture national-scale societal impact ideas from the global community for fiscal year 2023 and beyond. The DCL/RFI is the kickoff of the Convergence Accelerator’s Ideation Process. Ideas will be selected to further development and to gather insights to assist NSF in determining future convergence research topics.

The Convergence Accelerator provides a premier opportunity for academic, industry, nonprofit, and government researchers and innovators to work side-by-side with NSF to address crucial national and global societal challenges. This DCL/RFI, and the gathering of input from experts, will lead to the selection of our track topics for future cohort years.

The NSF selects track topics that are:

  • Broad in technical scope.
  • Impactful to society at scale.
  • Built upon foundational research.
  • Suitable for a multidisciplinary, convergent research approach.

Once the ideas are gathered, selected ideas from the DCL/RFI will then be invited to submit a workshop proposal. Workshops are intended to further develop ideas to incorporate convergence research and encourage collaboration amongst stakeholders from a variety of disciplines and sectors. The results from the workshops inform how the NSF selects future track topics to be funded for the future years.

DCL/RFI (NSF 22-021) Submission Details

NSF encourages participants from academia, industry, government, nonprofit, and other sectors to submit their ideas at https://bit.ly/DCL-RFI-NSF-22-021

Responses to the DCL/RFI are due by February 28, 2022.  

DCL/RFI Webinars

Join the NSF Convergence Accelerator to learn about the DCL/RFI and the program’s ideation process at a DCL/RFI webinar. 

Attendees will learn about the Convergence Accelerator’s program model and fundamentals, designed to leverage a convergence approach to transition basic research and discovery into practice. The NSF will explain how the Convergence Accelerator’s ideation process is your opportunity to think big to address current and future national and societal challenges. This enables participants to shape their topic ideas around the NSF’s criteria and will help guide their experience in the ideation phase of the program.

Webinar Details:

January 20, 2022 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. ET 

January 25, 2022 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. ET 

To register for a webinar, visit www.eventbrite.com/nsf-convergence-accelerator

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