Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems

The Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program aims to harness the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance. Many NSF-funded projects result in publicly accessible, modifiable, and distributable open-source products, including software, hardware, models, specifications, programming languages, or data platforms that catalyze further innovation. In some cases, an open-source product that shows potential for wide adoption forms the basis for a self-sustaining open-source ecosystem (OSE) that comprises a leadership team; a managing organization with a well-defined governance structure and distributed development model; a cohesive community of external intellectual content developers; and a broad base of users across academia, industry, and/or government. The overarching vision of POSE is that proactive and intentional formation of managing organizations will ensure adoption of open-source products; increased coordination of external intellectual content developer contributions; and a more focused route to technologies with broad societal impact. Toward this end, the POSE program supports the formation of new OSE managing organizations based on anexisting open-source product or class of products, whereby each organization is responsible for the creation and management of processes and infrastructure needed for the efficient and secure development and maintenance of an OSE.


POSE constitutes a new pathway to translate scientific innovations, akin to the Lab-to-Market Platform that NSF has pioneered over many decades. Whereas programs like theNSF Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps™)andAmerica’s Seed Fund[Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)]represent an integrated set of programs to provide researchers with the capacity to transform their fundamental research into deep technology ventures, POSE is specifically focused on another translational pathway – supporting the transition from open-source research artifacts to OSEs.


Importantly, the POSE program isnotintended to fund thedevelopmentof open-source products, including tools and artifacts. The POSE program is alsonotintended to fund existing well-resourced, open-source communities or ecosystems. Instead, the program aims to supportnewmanaging organizations to catalyze distributed, community-driven development and growth ofnewOSEs. The expected outcomes of the POSE program are to grow the community of researchers and innovators who develop and contribute to OSE efforts, and to enable pathways for the safe and secure development of OSEs that have broad societal impacts. OSEs can emerge from any areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research and development.


This solicitation seeks two types of proposals, allowing teams to propose specific activities toscope and planthe establishment of an OSE (Phase I), and toestablisha sustainable OSE based on a robust open-source product that shows promise in the ability to both meet an emergent societal or national need and build a community to help develop it (Phase II).


Phase I: OSE Scoping and Planning Proposals


Phase I projects are for open-source research products with a small community of external users though the product may not necessarily have external content developers. The objectives of Phase I projects are to: (1) enable scoping activities that will inform the transition of promising research products that are already available in open-source formats into sustainable and robust OSEs that will have broad societal impacts, and (2) provide training to teams interested in building such an OSE.


Phase I awardees are not obligated to submit Phase II proposals in the future.


Phase II: Establishment and Expansion Proposals


Phase II projects are for open-source research products with small, existing communities of external usersandexternal content developers. The objective of Phase II projects is to support the transition of a promising open-source product into a sustainable and robust OSE. Phase II proposal teams are expected to have already conducted the scoping activities needed to develop a detailed project plan to support the community-driven distributed development and deployment of successful open-source tools into operational environments (not necessarily via a Phase I award).


An NSF POSE Phase I award is not required for the submission of a Phase II proposal.

The Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program aims to harness the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance. Many NSF-funded projects result in publicly accessible, modifiable, and distributable open-source products, including software, hardware, models, specifications, programming languages, or data platforms that catalyze further innovation. In some cases, an open-source product that shows potential for wide adoption forms the basis for a self-sustaining open-source ecosystem (OSE) that comprises a leadership team; a managing organization with a well-defined governance structure and distributed development model; a cohesive community of external intellectual content developers; and a broad base of users across academia, industry, and/or government. The overarching vision of POSE is that proactive and intentional formation of managing organizations will ensure adoption of open-source products; increased coordination of external intellectual content developer contributions; and a more focused route to technologies with broad societal impact. Toward this end, the POSE program supports the formation of new OSE managing organizations based on anexisting open-source product or class of products, whereby each organization is responsible for the creation and management of processes and infrastructure needed for the efficient and secure development and maintenance of an OSE.


POSE constitutes a new pathway to translate scientific innovations, akin to the Lab-to-Market Platform that NSF has pioneered over many decades. Whereas programs like theNSF Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps™)andAmerica’s Seed Fund[Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)]represent an integrated set of programs to provide researchers with the capacity to transform their fundamental research into deep technology ventures, POSE is specifically focused on another translational pathway – supporting the transition from open-source research artifacts to OSEs.


Importantly, the POSE program isnotintended to fund thedevelopmentof open-source products, including tools and artifacts. The POSE program is alsonotintended to fund existing well-resourced, open-source communities or ecosystems. Instead, the program aims to supportnewmanaging organizations to catalyze distributed, community-driven development and growth ofnewOSEs. The expected outcomes of the POSE program are to grow the community of researchers and innovators who develop and contribute to OSE efforts, and to enable pathways for the safe and secure development of OSEs that have broad societal impacts. OSEs can emerge from any areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research and development.


This solicitation seeks two types of proposals, allowing teams to propose specific activities toscope and planthe establishment of an OSE (Phase I), and toestablisha sustainable OSE based on a robust open-source product that shows promise in the ability to both meet an emergent societal or national need and build a community to help develop it (Phase II).


Phase I: OSE Scoping and Planning Proposals


Phase I projects are for open-source research products with a small community of external users though the product may not necessarily have external content developers. The objectives of Phase I projects are to: (1) enable scoping activities that will inform the transition of promising research products that are already available in open-source formats into sustainable and robust OSEs that will have broad societal impacts, and (2) provide training to teams interested in building such an OSE.


Phase I awardees are not obligated to submit Phase II proposals in the future.


Phase II: Establishment and Expansion Proposals


Phase II projects are for open-source research products with small, existing communities of external usersandexternal content developers. The objective of Phase II projects is to support the transition of a promising open-source product into a sustainable and robust OSE. Phase II proposal teams are expected to have already conducted the scoping activities needed to develop a detailed project plan to support the community-driven distributed development and deployment of successful open-source tools into operational environments (not necessarily via a Phase I award).


An NSF POSE Phase I award is not required for the submission of a Phase II proposal.

*Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
-For-profit organizations: U.S.-based commercial organizations, including small businesses, with strong capabilities in scientific or engineering research or education and a passion for innovation.
-Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities.
-State and Local Governments
-Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.
-Tribal Nations: An American Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, or community that the Secretary of the Interior acknowledges as a federally recognized tribe pursuant to the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994, 25 U.S.C. §§ 5130-5131.

*Who May Serve as PI:

For Institutions of Higher Education:


By the submission deadline, any PI, co-PI, or other Senior/Key Personnel must hold either:

· a tenured or tenure-track position, or

· a primary, full-time, paid appointment in a research or teaching position, or

· a staff leadership role in an Open-Source Program Office or equivalent position


at a U.S.-based campus of an Institution of Higher Education (see above), with exceptions granted for family or medical leave, as determined by the submitting organization.


Individuals withprimaryappointments at overseas branch campuses of U.S. institutions of higher education are not eligible. Researchers from foreign academic institutions who contribute essential expertise to the project may participate as Senior/Key Personnel or collaborators but may not receive NSF support.


Individuals withprimaryappointments at non-U.S. based non-profit or non-U.S. based for-profit organizations are not eligible.


For all other eligible proposing organizations:


The PI must be an employee of the proposing organization who is normally resident in the U.S. and must be acting as an employee of the proposing organization while performing PI responsibilities. The PI may perform the PI responsibilities while temporarily out of the U.S.