The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE) announced in October a new solicitation, entitled US Ignite, that is a big step forward in the US Ignite Administration initiative.

From the solicitation:

The primary goal of US Ignite is to break a fundamental deadlock: there is insufficient investment in gigabit applications that can take advantage of advanced network infrastructure because such infrastructure is rare and dispersed. And conversely, there is a lack of broad availability of advanced broadband infrastructure for open experimentation and innovation because there are few advanced applications and services to justify it. US Ignite aims to break this deadlock by providing incentives for imagining, prototyping, and developing public sector gigabit applications, and by leveraging and extending this network testbed across US college/university campuses and cities.

This solicitation builds on the experience gained from initial US Ignite activities to further engage the US academic research and non-profit communities along with local cities, municipalities, and regions in exploring the challenges of developing and applying next-generation networking to problems of significant public interest and benefit. In particular, this solicitation has two tracks: the first encourages the development of applications in national priority areas that explore new uses for networks, giving rise to novel networking and application paradigms; and the second expands and enhances the ecosystems in which these applications will evolve and be evaluated.

Track 1 of this solicitation, entitled US Ignite Applications: Moving Novel Gigabit Applications into Practice, seeks proposals for innovative applications that leverage or enhance advanced networking technologies (i.e., gigabit throughput, software-defined networking, advanced wireless), and that address national priority areas. Up to $600,000 for up to three years is available in funding.

Track 2 of this solicitation, entitled Igniting a National Ecosystem: Scaling Up Smart and Connected Cities and Regions, seeks to continue and expand the involvement of local communities and regions in furthering this innovation. A key goal of Track 2 is to support mechanisms that will enable cities and regions to develop a smart and connected national ecosystem supporting applications of advanced networking such as those developed in Track 1. Up to $6,000,000 for up to three years is available in funding.

Many of the projects currently being pursued by Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) participants are aligned with US Ignite, as they identify national priorities and are working on ways to improve the overall ecosystem in areas including clean energy, transportation, health information technology, public safety/emergency preparedness, cyberlearning, and/or advanced manufacturing. For more information about GCTC, read about the challenge kick-off and the challenge report.

Full Proposal Deadline Date:  January 21, 2015
Letters of intent are not required.

Please see the US Ignite solicitation for more information.