Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC), is a new USS$20 million initiative from the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the U.S. that encourages two-year institutions that serve primarily undergraduate students, minority-serving institutions, and other emerging research institutions to take part in local innovation ecosystems. The programme will give training and networking support to help establish more inclusive ecosystems.
EPIIC will provide up to US$ 400,000 over three years to develop the capacity and institutional knowledge needed to build new partnerships and secure future external funding, enabling awardees to tap into their regional innovation ecosystems and potentially into an NSF Regional Innovation Engine (NSF Engine).
According to NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, the NSF strives to inspire broad networks of partners to work together to train the next generation of skilled American workers. In addition, the programme will generate chances for more inclusive engagement in entrepreneurship, startups, and other commercialisation activities, all of which are essential to the American research and innovation business.
The goal of the NSF Engines programme is to expand inclusive innovation ecosystems across the country. The programme acknowledges the need for additional targeted support for the infrastructure and resources required to grow external partnerships and tap into innovation ecosystems, including interacting with NSF Engines, for many institutions, including minority-serving institutions, small academic institutions, and two-year institutions.
Through EPIIC, institutions will take part in interactive online and live events to build cohorts and jointly create effective strategies to increase their capacity to collaborate across sectors. Participating institutions will develop strategies to advance efforts in workforce development, use-inspired research and development, and the translation of research results to practice in emerging technology areas such as microelectronics, advanced wireless, biotechnology, quantum information science, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Moreover, the NSF has joined the federal and university partners to announce a unique engagement between the U.S. government and academic stakeholders to aid researchers facing a broad spectrum of hazards to research integrity and security.
The Safeguarding Science toolset was designed with the scientific community for the scientific community. It provides research stakeholders with a single destination to acquire security best practices from across government and academia and to select solutions adapted to their unique needs.
Developed by the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Centre in partnership with NSF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Department of Transportation and its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Health and Human Services the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the American Association of Universities, the toolkit will promote a robust and resilient U.S. research ecosystem that emphasises integrity, collaboration, openness and security, all of which facilitate innovation.
The Safeguarding Science online toolkit is created for individuals and organisations in the U.S. scientific, academic and emerging-technology sectors that are wanting to develop strategies to protect research, technology and staff from theft, abuse, misuse or exploitation. The toolkit provides a framework for researchers to openly interact while building precautions that keep theft, abuse, and other risks at bay.
The toolkit reflects NSF’s commitment to partnering with the research community and U.S. government scientific and intelligence organisations to exchange information, best practices, and tools to mitigate risks and foster international collaboration to guarantee a flourishing research environment.
