NSF Convergence Accelerator: Industry-University Partnerships and the Future of Work

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This project will include a series of events to gather research community input on the NSF Big Idea: Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF), focusing specifically on the needs and objectives of the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. The overarching goal is to help refine one or more FW-HTF use-inspired research topics that could be appropriate for a future NSF Convergence Accelerator funding track. Participants in this event series will come from large research universities, emerging research institutions, companies, government agencies, and others interested in partnering to advance FW-HTF and NSF Convergence Accelerator initiatives. Together, the participants will attempt to identify:- Research topics that are of greatest interest to the private and are most likely to be fruitful for the NSF Convergence Accelerator use-inspired model of support. - Methods that the Convergence Accelerator program can adapt to expand and enhance academic-corporate collaborations- Strategies for the NSF Convergence Accelerator program to help catalyze the application and transition to practice of research results.This FW-HTF event series began with a kick-off event organized by UIDP at an international workshop in Oxford, UK (July 2019) where academic, corporate, and government decision-makers convened to identify goals for heightened academic-corporate engagement. During the Fall of 2019 UIDP will organize a series of six "Listening Sessions" at locations across the United States where researchers and practitioners from the private sector as well as other stakeholders will convene and share their perspectives. These events will be organized in conjunction with academic and corporate sponsors, event hosts, and technical experts, as well as the input of NSF. The event series will conclude with a conference in Massachusetts in November 2019. The outcome of this series will be a set of actionable recommendations for the NSF Convergence Accelerator program and the organizations represented at the events focused on use-inspired FW-HTF topics that will provide mutual benefit and interest for collaboration between academics, practitioners from the private sector, and other stakeholders.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.