Introduction to the New Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate and Touch Points with Research Infrastructure

Since its establishment in 1950, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded discoveries and innovations that have transformed our lives, from the Internet to Google to MRI machines. In this session, Gianchandani provides an overview of NSF’s first new directorate in more than three decades, the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), describing how this directorate is advancing key technologies, accelerating the translation of these technologies from the lab to society, addressing pressing economic challenges, and engaging the Nation’s broad and diverse population in this work. For example, a flagship investment led by TIP, the NSF Regional Innovation Engines, constitutes a bold new initiative to spark regional-scale innovation ecosystems throughout the country, and particularly in those parts that have not benefited from the technological booms of the last several decades. Gianchandani describes how together we can realize this vision of expanding the nation’s research and innovation ecosystem, and ultimately ensuring the U.S. remains in the vanguard of competitiveness for decades to come. Of note, Gianchandani emphasizes new authorities in the CHIPS and Science Act that direct TIP to invest in testbeds to allow experimentation “in the wild” by diverse participants in key technologies.