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Find similar grantsNSF X-Labs Initiative – AI for Physical Systems Topic Announcement is sponsored by National Science Foundation (Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships). Seeks early-stage platform technologies for intelligent, adaptive AI systems in physical environments, explicitly including robotics, embodied systems, human-robot interfaces, sensing, and cyber-physical systems.
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NSF X-Labs | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) The U.S. National Science Foundation X-Labs (NSF X-Labs) initiative is designed to launch and scale a new generation of organizations focused on independent research, development, and innovation.
These organizations will address technical challenges and bottlenecks that university and industry labs cannot easily solve through traditional methods. The NSF X-Labs initiative is led by the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (NSF TIP). Read the updated NSF X-Labs funding opportunity.
Read the NSF X-Labs Artificial Intelligence for Physical Systems Topic Announcement. Apply for funding through the NSF X-Labs portal. Read the September 2026 RFI.
Submit your responses to the September 2026 RFI. NSF announces 3 additional topics as part of the NSF X-Labs initiative to pursue generational breakthrough science and technology efforts NSF announces $1.
5B NSF X-Labs initiative to pursue generational breakthrough science efforts NSF X-Labs events and resources To learn more, plan to join these upcoming webinars or watch the recordings and view the slides from past webinars: Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1-2 p. m.
EDT Q&A for NSF X-Labs — Artificial Intelligence for Physical Systems Register for the Oct. 14 webinar. Tuesday, June 30, 2-3 p.
m. EDT Q&A for NSF X-Labs — Quantum Systems: Interconnects and Integrated Photonics Watch the June 30 recorded webinar. Tuesday, June 23, 2:30-3:30 p.
m. EDT Q&A for NSF X-Labs — Scientific Instrumentation for Sensing and Imaging Watch the June 23 recorded webinar. Thursday, June 4, 2-3 p.
m. EDT Introduction to NSF X-Labs Funding Opportunity — Quantum Systems: Interconnects and Integrated Photonics Watch the June 4 recorded webinar. View the June 4 webinar slides.
Thursday, May 28, 1-2 p. m. EDT Introduction to NSF X-Labs Funding Opportunity — Scientific Instrumentation for Sensing and Imaging Watch the May 28 recorded webinar .
View the May 28 webinar slides. The NSF X-Labs initiative positions the agency to support the next generation of American scientific entrepreneurs more effectively. The initiative is grounded in the recognition that many technology acceleration and translation challenges today require new approaches executed by coordinated, interdisciplinary teams.
This new initiative aligns with NSF and administration priorities to explore innovative models for funding and sharing high-value scientific research infrastructure and results. What makes NSF X-Labs unique?
The NSF X-Labs program design is informed by thoughtful science policy scholarship and entrepreneurship from emerging and established think tanks, metascience experts, congressionally chartered study commissions, and the broader scientific community.
The NSF X-Labs initiative will support full-time teams of entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers, scientists, and engineers who will enjoy operational autonomy as they pursue technical breakthroughs with the potential to reshape or create entire technology sectors.
NSF X-Labs teams will move beyond traditional research outputs (e.g., publications and datasets), with sufficient resources, financial runway, and independence to transition critical technology from early concept or prototypes to commercially viable platforms ready for private investment to help scale and deploy them. NSF anticipates significant investment in 2026, featuring large, multiyear awards for selected teams.
Read the updated NSF X-Labs Quantum Systems: Interconnects and Integrated Photonics topic announcement. Read the updated NSF X-Labs Scientific Instrumentation For Sensing and Imaging topic announcement. In September 2026, NSF announced three additional topics: Artificial Intelligence for Physical Systems , Sequence to Function, and Computation at the Limit of Physics.
Shaping the NSF X-Labs initiative To help shape the NSF X-Labs initiative, NSF TIP issued an initial request for information (RFI) in December 2025 and received numerous positive and constructive responses from the broader community, including academia, policymakers, nonprofits, philanthropy, state and local government, venture capital, and the private sector.
To learn more about the initial RFI, view the recordings of an informational webinar and a Q&A session about the RFI. Following the announcement of five topic areas, TIP issued an RFI in September 2026 seeking input on additional X-Labs topics .
According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Eligible U. S. organizations (including universities like University of Michigan) as lead; teams; SAM. gov registration required; limit of two proposals per eligible entity. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
Applications for NSF X-Labs Initiative – AI for Physical Systems Topic Announcement are due January 7, 2027. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
NSF X-Labs Initiative – AI for Physical Systems Topic Announcement is funded by National Science Foundation (Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
This opportunity targets applicants in Michigan. If your organization operates elsewhere, check the official notice for location requirements.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
TCUP lists eight funding tracks and roughly $10.3M a year, but the October 14, 2026 deadline applies to only three of them — CHAI, Pre-TI, and TCUP Partnerships — and each carries a restriction that disqualifies most applicants. Here is the track-by-track math.
Read articleOn August 26, 2026, NSF named the STC class of 2026: TEMPEST at Michigan State, GENIE at Northwestern, and a human-robot co-adaptation center at UT Austin. $90 million total, $6 million a year each. The 2023 class was four centers and $120 million. The award size is intact; the shelf space shrank 25 percent — and that is the number that should reshape how you plan a center proposal.
Read articleOn July 14, 2026, NSF named 12 new Regional Innovation Engines across 20 states, each starting with $15 million over two years and eligible for up to $160 million across a decade. But the Engines program is not a research grant — it is a bet on a regional coalition's ability to convert federal seed money into private matching capital. The first cohort turned $135 million into over $2 billion in commitments. Here is how the milestone-gated structure actually works, who wins these awards, and what a region needs in place long before the next competition opens.
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