The Infrastructure Innovation for Biological Research Program (Innovation) supports research to design novel or greatly improved research tools and methods that advance contemporary biology in any research area supported by the Directorate for Biological Sciences at NSF. The Innovation Program focuses on research infrastructure that is broadly applicable to researchers in three programmatic areas: Bioinformatics, Instrumentation, and Research Methods. Infrastructure supported by this program is expected to advance biological understanding by improving scientists’ abilities to manipulate, control, analyze, or measure critical aspects of biological systems, which can be essential for addressing important fundamental research questions. Proposals submitted to these programmatic areas can do one of three things to advance or transform research in biology: develop novel infrastructure, significantly redesign existing infrastructure, or adapt existing infrastructure in novel ways. Projects are expected to have a significant application to one or more biological science questions and have the potential to be used by a community of researchers beyond a single research team.
Please refer to the descriptions of individual programmatic areas for detailed guidance on what is supported through this solicitation (see links below).
Full Proposal Accepted Anytime
Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
- Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.
- Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research labs, professional s
Estimated Number of Awards: 20 to 40
Actual number of awards may vary depending on the split of funds across the different programs, which in turn may vary according to submission distribution, individual proposal merits, and budget amounts, and availability of funds.
Anticipated Funding Amount: $16,000,000 to $18,000,000
Approximately $16-18 million is expected to be available for new and continuing awards. The size and duration of any individual request should be justified by the amount and complexity of the work to be accomplished. As a rule, the larger the budget, the greater the expected impact on the biological research community.