The NSF Convergence Accelerator, a program in NSF’s new Directorate of Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, builds on basic research and discovery to accelerate solutions toward societal impact. The program funds teams to solve societal challenges through convergence research and innovation. To enhance its impact, the Accelerator also places teams together in cohorts, synergizing their work through facilitated collaboration.

The Convergence Accelerator has issued a new funding opportunity for three new research track topics, one of which may be of special interest to your PI communities:  Real-World Chemical Sensing Applications (Track L). This track builds on foundational knowledge and recent advances to transform scientific discoveries into practice for societal and economic benefits. Science advances include olfaction and chemical sensing, sensor technologies, digital olfaction, artificial intelligence, neuromorphic systems, computational modeling, biomanufacturing, and robotics. Application spaces include disease diagnostics, personal care, food safety, agriculture, environmental quality and monitoring, security, and more.

Another one of the three tacks may be of interest to your communities as well: Bio-Inspired Design Innovations (Track M).  This track capitalizes on foundational knowledge of nature to inspire the creation of innovative concepts, approaches, and technologies that build and control similar to nature to address challenges related to climate change, infrastructure monitoring and resilience, food production, and human health.

Researchers and innovators from academia, industry, government, non-profit, and other organizations have two submission pathways to submit their proposals: Solicitation, NSF-23-590, and Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), NSFBAA-CA23-01. Key dates:  Letter of Intent – July 11, 2023; Full Proposal – August 22, 2023.