NSF announces solicitation for open-source ecosystems

February 2, 2023

Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program supports the facilitation, creation and growth of open-source ecosystems for new, impactful technology solution

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) published a solicitation for the Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems, or POSE, program that aims to harness the power of open-source development as a platform of innovation to address challenges of societal and economic importance.

The expected outcomes of the POSE program are to grow the communities of researchers and innovators who develop and contribute to open-source ecosystems (OSEs), and to enable pathways for the safe and secure development of OSEs that have broad societal and economic impacts. OSEs can emerge from all areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and innovation.

The POSE program solicitation seeks two types of proposals: teams propose specific activities to scope and plan the establishment of an OSE (Phase I for 1 year and up to $300,000 per project), or establish a sustainable OSE based on a robust open-source product that shows promise in its ability to both meet an emergent societal or economic need and build a community to help develop it (Phase II for 2 years and up to $1.5 million per project).

“This program will ensure more secure open-source products, increased coordination of developer contributions, and a more focused route to impactful technologies,” said Barry Johnson, division director for the Division of Translational Impacts within TIP.

Launched by NSF’s Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, or TIP, and in collaboration with all of NSF’s other directorates, the POSE program constitutes a pathway to translate scientific and engineering innovations. The program supports managing organizations that will facilitate the creation and growth of sustainable high-impact OSEs around already-developed open-source products, many of which are the result of prior NSF-funded research.

Deadlines for full proposal submissions can be found in the POSE solicitation.