The National Science Foundation has stood up the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, which aims toward the advancement of capabilities across the U.S.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF director, said at a Texas event Wednesday the new directorate will work on new technologies that would address societal and economic challenges faced by U.S. citizens.
“By pursuing new approaches that engage the nation’s broad and diverse population in shaping research directions and outcomes, TIP will be a game-changer in terms of the pace of technological breakthroughs, future job growth and national competitiveness,” explained Panchanathan.
NSF plans to use TIP in launching initiatives and so-called innovation engines that would help transition research and development efforts into marketable technologies and establish a future technical workforce.
The foundation will also move its existing innovation and translation portfolio such as the NSF Lab-to-Market Platform and NSF Convergence Accelerator to the new directorate.
Erwin Gianchandani, a longtime computer and information science and engineering official at NSF, will lead TIP as the foundation’s assistant TIP director.