NSF’s Tech Accelerators Aim to Bridge the ‘Valley of Death’

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Directorate (TIP) is testing a new model for commercializing technology research, funding organizations responsible for helping tech move from lab to market.

“We need to be thinking about what we’re innovating, but also how we’re innovating so we can be at the front leading edge in technology,” TIP Director Erwin Gianchandani told GovCIO Media & Research. 

NSF launched the Tech Accelerators initiative in May as part of the White House’s effort to speed scientific discovery and strengthen the nation’s innovation ecosystem. The initiative is designed to address the “valley of death:” the gap between a promising research breakthrough and a product that private investors are willing to fund.

According to NSF, more than 80% of venture capital invested in AI and quantum in 2025, leaving funding gaps for other emerging technology research. Traditional federal research grants often end before technologies become commercially viable, leaving researchers without the business expertise, customer relationships or capital needed to successfully commercialize their innovations.

“What you see with programs like Tech Accelerators and other parts of our portfolio is really an intentional effort to be that bridge builder, if you will, across that valley,” Gianchandani said. 

Selecting Tech Accelerators

Rather than funding research teams directly through the initiative, NSF will select organizations to operate Tech Accelerators in specific technology areas. Those organizations will invest in research teams while providing commercialization expertise, mentorship and industry connections to help technologies advance from prototype to pilot and, ultimately, commercial adoption.

“The current level of investment by venture capital and others is much lower than what the potential could be,” he said. “With the Tech Accelerators program, NSF brings resourcing and a framework to the table, and the Accelerators will then, in turn, fund smaller teams.” 

Unlike traditional NSF research grants, which primarily support scientific discovery, the Tech Accelerators initiative is designed to help research teams achieve commercial outcomes such as pilot projects, licensing agreements, startup formation, customer adoption and follow-on private investment.

NSF will initially establish four Tech Accelerators focused on agricultural technology, materials technology, ocean technology and scientific instrumentation — areas the agency considers strategically important but underfunded during the earliest stages of commercialization. NSF plans to select one organization to lead each accelerator.

How It Works

According to Gianchandani, NSF TIP will provide the accelerator organizations with program guidance, funding and templates to implement the initiative. The accelerator organizations will then solicit proposals from research teams and startups, providing funding, mentorship and industry partnerships to help move technologies from lab to market.

Each Tech Accelerator will operate through a three-stage commercialization model, allowing technologies to enter at different levels of maturity depending on their readiness:

• Design: An up to 12-month planning effort supported by up to $500,000 per team. Each NSF Tech Accelerator is anticipated to award up to 10 teams per design topic.
• Build: An up to 24-month growth phase supported by up to $5 million per team. Teams advance technologies from proof of concept to minimum viable products while refining prototypes, validating market demand and developing commercialization strategies. Each NSF Tech Accelerator is anticipated to award up to five teams per build topic. 
• Scale: An up to 36-month effort supported by up to $10 million per team. Accelerator organizations must secure substantial matching investments from nonfederal partners, reflecting NSF’s goal of attracting private capital as technologies mature.

“We’re really looking for new types of partnerships that can come together and form a Tech Accelerator, where partners are bringing resources to the table themselves,” said Gianchandani. “Then we can promote going beyond sort of this initial focus on AI or quantum and stretch into other areas as well.”