Evaluation Management and Support for the IUCRC Program

NSF’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program accelerates the impact of basic research through the creation and support of Centers that enable collaborative research relationships among industry innovators, world-class academic teams, and government leaders. IUCRCs are designed to enable corporate members and government agencies to connect directly and efficiently with university researchers to conduct high-impact research that addresses shared industry needs; to enhance U.S. leadership in driving innovative technology development; and to identify, mentor, and develop diverse, skilled scientific and engineering workforce talent.

Through this model, NSF brings together over 75 Centers involving over 120 universities and over 750 companies, constituting 1,100+ IUCRC memberships. This pioneering model for identifying and managing high-value, use-inspired precompetitive research, has successfully generated over $45 million of industry funding in FY23 and this represents a typical year in the program.

The Evaluation Management and Support for the IUCRC Program is focused on ensuring fidelity to IUCRC’s programmatic approaches, adherence to high standards of quality, and leveraging efficiencies as Centers form and evolve. It provides support structures and evaluation to enhance the IUCRC Program and its ability to deliver valuable new knowledge to catalyze innovations.

Through management of the Center evaluators and the associated data collection and evaluation process for Centers, this program promotes the progress of science by strengthening IUCRC performance through rigorous and structured monitoring and evaluation; coaching and community support; and data collection, analysis and reporting. Effective and robust program monitoring, evaluation, and coaching supports the development of strong, sustainable centers that can achieve the aims of the NSF's IUCRC program thereby ensuring that public funds are effectively used to maintain a high-caliber national IUCRC Center network for long-term commercial and societal impact.

The Evaluation Management and Support for the Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers (IUCRC) Program aims to make the IUCRC program more effective, equitable, and scalable. To do this, VentureWell will continue to work as a support and partner to NSF in service of two main long-term objectives: (1) To ensure that NSF has the necessary information to make informed decisions that will improve support for the Center grantees and the operations and outcomes of the IUCRC Program, and (2) to ensure that all Centers are poised for successful launch, growth, and operational sustainability.

VentureWell will continue to recruit and manage the IUCRC evaluators, providing training, support and management of their work. It will also provide robust systems and support for the evaluation process, including monitoring and reviewing data submissions, and maintaining and enhancing data systems to meet NSF information needs including collecting, analyzing, and reporting on key Center metrics while ensuring strong data management and security protocols are followed.

To support the community of Centers, intensive training for IUCRC planning grantees focused on market alignment and stakeholder engagement will be provided, setting them up for success and sustainability from the start. Critical, timely, and regular evaluation will inform the management of IUCRC Centers, reflecting the data back to each Center for their own continuous improvement and sharing it with NSF for programmatic oversight and informed decision-making.

The broader impact of this program will be the enhancement of the IUCRC Program and its ability to deliver innovations to address commercial and societal needs through effective Industry-University Collaborations.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.