Accelerating Discovery to Innovation Rathindra (Babu) DasGupta Program Director Directorate for Engineering National Science Foundation 23 rd National NSF EPSCoR Conference November 3 ‐ 7, 2013
Outline • NSF Organization • Current (established) Programs & ‘Outcomes’ • Filling gaps in the Innovation Ecosystem • New Programs (ex: I ‐ Corps TM ) • Q&A
National Science Foundation National Science Director Office of Diversity and Board (NSB) Inclusion and Deputy Director Office of the General Office of the Counsel Inspector General Office of International & (OIG) Integrative Activities Office of Legislative & Public Affairs Computer & Biological Information Engineering Geosciences Sciences Science & (ENG) (GEO) (BIO) Engineering (CISE) Social, Budget, Mathematical Education Information Behavioral, Finance, & & Physical & Human & Resource & Economic Award Sciences Resources Management Sciences Management (MPS) (EHR) (IRM) (SBE) (BFA)
NSF Investments • Support basic research in ALL fields of science and engineering. • Fund high ‐ risk research; can sometimes lead to unexpected results! • Many discoveries and products we now rely upon began with NSF support.
NSF Innovation Investments Small University Business NSF overall Industry SBIR Venture Capital Resources Invested Translational Research Angel Investors Research Commercialization Development 5
Disclaimer • NSF doesn’t claim SOLE responsibility for these successes, but • NSF played a clear and definable role in the intellectual evolution of all these innovations.
The Ubiquitous Bar Code In the 1970s, research led to improvements in the • accuracy of scanners More recently, advanced algorithms have been • developed for bar code readers
DNA Evidence • Forensic DNA analysis is key to our legal system • Basic biological research led to the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique, making DNA fingerprinting possible • Recently, PCR has been used with great success in forensic science to examine small quantities of blood, urine, or hair
Internet Search Engines • In the 1990s, NSF funded Stanford University Professor Hector Garcia ‐ Molina’s “Digital Library Project” • Garcia ‐ Molina’s grad student, Larry Page, developed a new search engine that reflected linking among web pages
Affordable, Effective Medicines • NSF–funded researchers engineered yeast cells to produce ‘artemisinin,‘ a chemical critical to making anti ‐ malaria drug • On April 11, 2013, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi launched the large ‐ scale production of a partially synthetic version of artemisinin The leaves of Artemisia annua , the sweet wormwood tree, are the source of artemisinin. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Clean, Abundant Water • NSF supported research into water desalination, decontamination, and disinfection. – New techniques are more rapid, less expensive, and more sensitive. • New models can analyze watersheds and the links between water and infrastructure systems. Credit: Josh Chamot, NSF
MRSEC: Laser Transmission MRSEC: support interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary materials research and education of the highest quality while addressing fundamental problems in science and engineering that are important to society . On Friday November 19 th 2004, a minimally invasive procedure was performed on a patient with near ‐ total obstruction of the larynx and trachea. The procedure was performed by Dr. Jamie Koufman, the director of the Center for Voice and Swallowing Disorders of Wake Forest University at the Voice Center in Winston ‐ Salem, North Carolina. The patient was awake during the procedure and was able to go home immediately thereafter. Enabling Technology : a new class of photonic bandgap fibers capable of transmitting CO 2 laser energy at a wavelength of 10.6 microns . This technology evolved from MRSEC supported fundamental research (Temelkuran et al., Nature 420 , 650 ‐ 653, 2002). The technology was licensed exclusively to OmniGuide by MIT for further development in 2003.
STC: Magnetic Resonance Imaging STCs: address complex research problems Lauterbur was awarded a with interdisciplinary approaches, Nobel Prize in 2003 for partnerships, and knowledge transfer to discoveries leading to stakeholders magnetic resonance imaging. • STC for Magnetic Resonance Technology for Basic Biological Research at UIUC established in 1991 • PI Paul Lauterbur discovered the possibility of creating a two ‐ dimensional image by producing variations in a magnetic field
GOALI: Nanocrystal Formation and Morphology in Nonthermal Plasmas Plasma Reactor GOALI: aims to synergize university-industry partnerships and fund transformative Research that lies beyond that which industry would normally fund • Uwe Kortshagen (University of Minnesota) and Michael Zachariah (Univ. of Maryland College Park) have demonstrated the ability of plasmas to produce crystalline nanoparticles with specific geometries and beneficial properties. • InnovaLight, Inc., licensed the approach to synthesize silicon nanocrystals for the use in low ‐ cost, efficient solar cells based on silicon nanoparticle films.
I/UCRC Success Stories I/UCRCs: conduct cooperative, pre ‐ competitive industry relevant research Spin ‐ offs: 3 centers; 1 ENG & 2 CISE in FY 2012 22 spin ‐ offs in last 4 ‐ 5 years Technology Transfers & Impacts: Air Liquide & I/UCRC for Excellence in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi) : 1 to 2% realized savings in logistics ratio (investment in tanks to logistics transportation costs) Sam’s Club & I/UCRC for CELDi : Estimated $60M annual impact resulting from reduction in club inventory Medical Center Health System & I/UCRC for CELDi: Improve patient discharge process; $250,000 annual impact
ERC: Radar Network Detects Low ‐ Altitude Weather Phenomena • ERC for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere, Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst • Improves on Doppler radar and NEXRAD ERCs: focus on engineered systems that integrate fundamental research, technology development and education in partnership with industrial members .
Phase IB Phase IIB Private Sector Third-Party Third-Party Or Investment + 1:2 IA Investment + 1:2 IA Non-SBIR NSF Matching NSF Matching Investment (up to $30k) (up to $500k) Phase I Phase II Phase III Feasibility Research Research towards Product Development SBIR - $ 150k/6 months Prototype to STTR - $ 225k/12 $750k/24 months Commercial Market months IA = Innovation Accelerator
SBIR: Support of Qualcomm • In 1985, Andrew Viterbi and 6 colleagues formed “QUALity COMMunications” • In 1987–1988 SBIR provided $265,000 for single chip implementation of Viterbi decoder – Led to high ‐ speed data transmission via wireless and satellite • Now the $78B company holds more than 10,100 U.S. patents, licensed to more than 165 companies
Partnerships for Innovation: Building Innovation Capacity SBIR/STTR I/UCRC PFI:BIC GOALI PFI:BIC ERC STC Resources Invested • Established 2000 • Develops technological and human innovation capacity through academe ‐ industry partnerships Revised in 2013 to focus on smart service systems ◦ Focus on technologies with potential for transformational change in existing service systems, or to spur entirely new service systems ◦ Understand the interaction of technology with customers– the “socio ‐ technical” system
PFI:AIR ‐ RA PFI:AIR ‐ TT Partnerships for Innovation: Accelerating Innovation Research SBIR/STTR I/UCRC PFI:BIC GOALI ERC STC PFI:AIR Resources Invested • Established 2010 • America Competes Act • Lineage to NSF ‐ funded research results PFI:AIR—Technology Translation ◦ Aimed at faculty researchers to extend research discoveries toward commercial application PFI:AIR—Research Alliance ◦ Aimed at “centers” to leverage center investments to translate technologies and form a sustainable innovation ecosystem ◦ Requires 3 rd party investment to accelerate commercialization
Filling Gaps in the Innovation Ecosystem •Spur Translation of Fundamental Research •Encourage Collaboration between Academia and Industry •Educate to Innovate
Pilot Programs • Translation Research in the Academic Community (TRAC) Resources for existing NSF grantee researchers aimed at translating fundamental research into commercial applications • Industry Inspired Fundamental Research (IFR) Small groups of industry identify innovation opportunity and fundamental research questions / needs • Industry Post Docs Corporate Research Postdoctoral Fellowship Program provides recent engineering PhD recipients the opportunity to conduct postdoctoral research in a corporate setting
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