The Foundation for the Next Generation of Innovation

NSF will invest in the multi-agency National Robotics Initiative (NRI) to help develop robots that work beside, interact cooperatively with, or assist people in manufacturing, space and undersea exploration, health care and rehabilitation, military and homeland security and surveillance, education and training, and safe driving.

Biological systems provide architectural and operational blue prints to guide the engineering of adaptive technologies. NSF will support the Research at the Interface of the Biological, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (BioMaPS) program that will integrate biological, engineering, mathematical, and physical sciences research to better understand and replicate nature’s ability to network, communicate, and adapt. BioMaPS will accelerate the generation of bio-based materials and sensors, and the advanced manufacturing of bio-inspired devices and platforms.

New to NSF’s portfolio, the Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) program catalyzes interdisciplinary research. As the only federal agency that supports all fields of science and engineering, NSF is positioned to catalyze hybridized fields of research such as synthetic biology, social cognitive neuroscience, nano-eco-toxicology, and information theory. INSPIRE will address critical evaluation issues by implementing a system to assess the impact of these awards.

Many of these sound fascinating. What similar organizations exist in the world? What kind of efforts are they working on? This will be a some great information to track.