Resources and Events

Letters of Intent

The NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program is creating regional-scale innovation ecosystems across the U.S. To apply for the program under the current funding opportunity, organizations were required to submit a letter of intent (LOI) with information on the overarching societal, regional, national and/or geostrategic challenge their NSF Engine aims to address and their key technology areas, partners and geographic footprints. NSF has published nearly 300 LOIs. 

screen shot of NSF Engines letter of intent locations of lead organizations with 286 unique LOIs

 

Use the data to find partners

Regions benefit from proactive teaming and collaboration. Use the published data from LOIs to reach out to potential partners and build strong, collaborative teams.

Encouraging place-based innovation and investment

The NSF Engines program requires applicant teams to define their geographic region of service and lead their application submission with that information.  LOI submitters should know about and connect with others within their regions and topic areas. By publishing the accepted LOIs, NSF hopes to connect applicants before the preliminary proposal deadline.

Unlocking new partnerships

The NSF Engines program garners interest from a variety of organization that may not naturally be connected to one another. Nonprofits, foundations, investors, state and local government officials, tribal governments and community organizations have all expressed interest in connecting with NSF Engines. By publishing data from the LOIs, NSF aims to create opportunities across the U.S. for like-minded groups to connect with submitters (within one's community and beyond) to offer ideas, capital, expertise and more. The agency hopes this process leads to stronger teams with a more diverse set of partners. 

Power in the data

As a leading science and technology agency, NSF believes in the power of transparently sharing data. Given other federal and state government efforts to build regional ecosystems and capacity, NSF saw the value in sharing data early, rather than waiting until awards are made. The agency encourages you to build tools and visualizations on top of its data.

Fact sheets

The NSF Engines program created fact sheets about the new funding opportunity. 

Past events

In the video below, the NSF Engines program team provides an overview of the NSF Engines program, describes the new funding opportunity, and reviews the proposal submission and merit review process. 

The slide deck used in the video can be downloaded here: TIP and NSF Engines overview slides. (PDF, 1.97 MB)

NSF Engines Virtual Roadshows | U.S. National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines

The NSF Engines Roadshows are a series of five regionally focused virtual events held during the spring of 2024 that served as jumping-off points for NSF Engines application discussion development. Each roadshow included an overview of the NSF Engines program, a fireside chat with current NSF Engines awardees and interactive breakout rooms for regional collaboration. 

Roadshow Highlights

Roadshow 1 (AR, CO, KS, MO, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX):
May 7, 2024

Fireside Chat Guests:

Roadshow 1 recording

 

Roadshow 2 (CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI, VT):
May 9, 2024

Fireside Chat Guests:

Roadshow 2 recording

 

Roadshow 3 (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, territories):
May 14, 2024

Fireside Chat Guests:

Roadshow 3 Recording

 

Roadshow 4 (AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, PR, SC, TN, VA, VI):
May 16, 2024

Fireside Chat Guests:

Roadshow 4 Recording

 

Roadshow 5 (IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, OH, PA, WI, WV):
May 20, 2024

Fireside Chat Guests:

Roadshow 5 recording

Subscribe to the NSF Engines email list to receive information about more events taking place in the coming months.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Inaugural NSF Regional Innovation Engines
Credit: U.S. National Science Foundation

Ways to stay connected

Sign up for the NSF Engines email list

Subscribe to the NSF Engines email list to receive information program updates, announcements, funding opportunities, webinars and more.  

Contact

Email the NSF Engines program team with questions about the program. Most emails are answered within one business day. 

Additional information

The NSF Engines team has created an interest form to help members of the innovation community connect with and support the NSF Engines development awardees and NSF Engines awardees. NSF recognizes that building robust innovation ecosystems across the country requires identifying and working with new sources of talent and building diverse collaborations. The goal of this interest form is to create an entry point for individuals, organizations and funders who are interested in supporting our portfolio of NSF Engine awardees and/or working within an NSF Engine to share their information.  

Fill out the interest form.

Run by The Engine Accelerator, a public benefit corporation with origins at MIT, the Builder Platform is a unique post-award support model that will provide tailored resources and a high level of personalized engagement and support that will significantly contribute to the success of the NSF Engines program. The NSF Engines Builder Platform isn't a technology platform or app, but rather is an entirely new way of thinking about post-award support — a human-centered portfolio of support structures that empowers awardees with the tools, networks and capital needed to thrive. It's inspired and informed by the support systems pioneered by venture incubators and accelerators, national philanthropy and lessons learned from prior place-based investment efforts.

As NSF continues to support and invest in America's innovation economy, we also seek to foster collaboration, encourage knowledge sharing, and facilitate meaningful discussions to drive innovation forward. For your knowledge, NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) developed a glossary of shared vocabulary used in the dynamic and ever-evolving innovation ecosystem space. Review the glossary to understand terminology frequently used at NSF to describe key terms, ideas and concepts to aid in navigating through and communication about innovation, entrepreneurship and ecosystem building.

View the glossary.

Download the Glossary (PDF, 216.1 KB)