Notice of Intent To Seek Approval To Establish an Information Collection, 71033-71036 [2023-22598]

Agencies

• NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71033-71036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22598]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Notice of Intent To Seek Approval To Establish an Information 
Collection

AGENCY: Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, 
National Science Foundation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and as part of its 
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, the 
Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), 
National Science Foundation (NSF) is inviting the general public or 
other Federal agencies to comment on this proposed information 
collection.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by December 12, 
2023, to be assured consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable. Send comments to the 
address below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Suzanne H. Plimpton, Reports Clearance 
Officer, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Suite 
E7400, Alexandria, Virginia 22314; telephone (703) 292-7556; or send 
email to [email protected]. Individuals who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay 
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339, which is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week, 365 days a year (including federal holidays).
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of 
the functions of the Foundation, including whether the information will 
have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Foundation's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on those who are to respond, including through the

[[Page 71034]]

use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: Generic Clearance for the Regional Innovation 
Engines Evaluation and Monitoring Plan.
    OMB Number: 3145-NEW.
    Expiration Date of Approval: Not applicable.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Description: The instruments will collect data on (1) individuals 
in leadership or governance roles in funded NSF Regional Innovation 
Engine (NSF Engine), and individuals engaged or participating in the 
NSF Engine's activities; (2) organizations that are partnering with the 
NSF Engine or participating in NSF Engine activities; and (3) 
information on the programmatic activities, outputs, impact, and/or 
outcomes of the Engine (i.e., use-inspired research, development and 
translation, impact on the economy, new jobs created, new industries 
launched, and others).
    Background: The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 codified the National 
Science Foundation's cross-cutting Directorate for Technology, 
Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), NSF's first new directorate in more 
than 30 years, and charged it with the critical mission of advancing 
U.S. competitiveness through investments that accelerate the 
development of key technologies and address pressing national, societal 
and geostrategic challenges. NSF's TIP directorate deepens the Agency's 
commitment to support use-inspired research and the translation of 
research results to the market and society. In doing so, TIP 
strengthens the intense interplay between foundational and use-inspired 
work, enhancing the full cycle of discovery and innovation.
    TIP integrates with NSF's existing directorates and fosters 
partnerships--with government, industry, nonprofits, civil society, and 
communities of practice--to leverage, energize and rapidly bring to 
society use-inspired research and innovation. TIP spurs use-inspired 
research and innovation to meet the nation's priorities by accelerating 
the development of breakthrough technologies and advancing solutions.
    The NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program serves as 
a flagship funding program of the TIP directorate, with the goal of 
expanding and accelerating scientific and technological innovation 
within the U.S. by catalyzing regional innovation ecosystems throughout 
every region of our nation. The NSF Engines program was authorized in 
the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (Section 10388) to
    (1) advance multidisciplinary, collaborative, use-inspired and 
translational research, technology development, in key technology focus 
areas;
    (2) address regional, national, societal, or geostrategic 
challenges;
    (3) leverage the expertise of multi-disciplinary and multi-sector 
partners, including partners from private industry, nonprofit 
organizations, and civil society organizations; and
    (4) support the development of scientific, innovation, 
entrepreneurial, and STEM educational capacity within the region of the 
Regional Innovation Engine to grow and sustain regional innovation.
    The NSF Engines program aims to fund regional coalitions of 
partnering organizations to establish NSF Engines that will catalyze 
technology and science-based regional innovation ecosystems. Each NSF 
Engine is focused on addressing specific aspects of a major national, 
societal and/or geostrategic challenge that are of significant interest 
in the NSF Engine's defined ``region of service.'' The NSF Engines 
program envisions a future in which all sectors of the American 
population can participate in and benefit from advancements in 
scientific research and development equitably to advance U.S. global 
competitiveness and leadership. The program's mission is to establish 
sustainable regional innovation ecosystems that address pressing 
regional, national, societal, or geostrategic challenges by advancing 
use-inspired and translational research and development in key 
technology focus areas. The programmatic level goals of NSF Engines are 
to:

 Goal 1: Stimulate innovation in regions with low levels of 
innovation;
 Goal 2: Build and train an inclusive workforce;
 Goal 3: Advance key technologies;
 Goal 4: Create a culture that promotes inclusive and equitable 
prosperity;
 Goal 5: Cultivate new, sustainable, trusting cross-sector 
partnerships;
 Goal 6: Create a sustainable innovation ecosystem;
 Goal 7: Increase economic growth;
 Goal 8: Increase job creation.

    To achieve these goals, each NSF Engine will carry out an 
integrated and comprehensive set of activities spanning use-inspired 
research, translation-to-practice, entrepreneurship, and workforce 
development to nurture and accelerate regional industries. In addition, 
each NSF Engine is expected to embody a culture of innovation and have 
a demonstrated, intense, and meaningful focus on improving diversity 
throughout its regional science and technology ecosystem. NSF Engines 
are awarded as cooperative agreements and are expected to undergo an 
annual comprehensive evaluation assessment of the NSF Engine's 
performance, which will inform subsequent year funding. The total 
funding for each NSF Engine is up to $160 million over 10 years with 
the first-ever group of NSF Engines expected to be announced in late 
2023.
    Effective monitoring, assessment, and evaluation of NSF Engines 
will be critical for making programmatic funding decisions and 
increasing the understanding of how regional innovation ecosystems are 
created. Systematic data and information collection will be 
qualitative, quantitative, and descriptive in nature and will provide a 
means for managing Program Directors to monitor progress throughout a 
given NSF Engine the award and ensure that the award is in good 
standing. These data will also allow NSF to assess the NSF Engines 
Program in terms of intellectual, technological, societal, commercial, 
and economic impacts that are core to the NSF merit review criteria. 
Finally, in compliance with the Evidence Act of 2019, information 
collected will be used for both internal and external program 
evaluation and assessment, satisfying Congressional requests, and 
supporting the Agency's policymaking and reporting needs.
    Methodology: This information collection, which entails collecting 
information from NSF Engines grantees and participants through a series 
of surveys, interviews, focus groups, and case studies, is in 
accordance with the Agency's commitment to improving service delivery 
as well as the Agency's strategic goal to ``advance the capability of 
the Nation to meet current and future challenges.''
    For this effort, four categories of survey instruments have been 
developed, each of which will include closed-ended and open-ended 
questions to generate quantitative and qualitative data. For ease of 
use for our respondent pool, survey questionnaires will be programmed 
into interactive web surveys and distributed to eligible respondents by 
email.
    The surveys, which will serve as a census for all applicable NSF 
Engines grantees, partner organizations, and participants, will be used 
to collect baseline measures at the start of the program and vital 
information on how grantees, partner organizations, and participants 
progress through the

[[Page 71035]]

program. All data collected through web surveys will be made available 
to the external evaluator(s) for each NSF Engine to be used for their 
own analyses, assessments, and evaluation. The four categories of data 
that will be collected for each NSF Engine through web-based surveys 
are outlined below:
     Input data for a given NSF Engine
    [cir] The Chief Executive Officer, or designated personnel, will be 
asked to provide basic information on each NSF Engine participant 
(e.g., name of individual, email address of individual, which NSF 
Engine activity the individual is involved in), each partner 
organization (e.g., name and address of partner organization, point of 
contact for organization's involvement with NSF Engines, email address 
for organization's point of contact), and each programmatic activity 
(e.g., title of activity, activity lead name and email address, short 
description of the activity). Automated web-based surveys will be sent 
to the email addresses collected from this input. Data will be 
collected on a rolling basis as NSF Engine activities may start at any 
time during the award.
     Individual level data
    [cir] Demographic and personal data (e.g., age, gender, race, 
educational attainment, socioeconomic status, job status) will be 
collected for all participants in a given NSF Engine, including the 
Chief Executive Officer; members of the leadership team, governance 
board, and advisory committees, as applicable; researchers; and 
workforce development participants. Data collected from individuals 
will be used to monitor and assess whether the NSF Engine's 
participants reflect the demographic diversity of the region of service 
defined by the NSF Engine. In addition, these data can be used by 
individual NSF Engines to assess whether they are meeting their 
diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) objectives and 
targets. Surveys for individuals will be conducted once a year.
     Partner organization level data
    [cir] Partner organizations that are involved in any NSF Engines 
activities or provide any monetary, in-kind, or other contributions 
will be surveyed twice a year and asked to provide basic information 
about its organization (e.g., employer identification number, legal 
name of organization, type of organization); in which NSF Engine 
activities the organization participated; the monetary or estimated 
value of in-kind and other resources they contributed to the NSF 
Engine; with which other partner organizations within the NSF Engine 
they collaborated; why they are a partner of the NSF Engine; and other 
information related to the roles and responsibilities an organization 
has within NSF Engine. Individual Engines may use the data for internal 
assessments and to help inform decision making. Data collected from 
this effort will be used to monitor and assess the level of cross-
sector partnerships created within and across NSF Engines.
     Programmatic-level data
    [cir] NSF Engines activities fall into one of four programmatic 
categories: (1) use-inspired and translational research, (2) workforce 
development, (3) diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility 
(DEIA), and (4) ecosystem building (e.g., stakeholder engagement, 
strategic planning, building of infrastructure, partner outreach). The 
lead of each activity will be asked to provide information about the 
activity twice a year. Different survey questionnaires will be used for 
each of the four programmatic categories. Basic information to be 
collected for all activities include activity status (i.e., active, 
completed, on hold, or cancelled); identification of milestones; and 
milestone status (i.e., on track, at risk, or off track). Information 
specific to each programmatic category will also be collected. For 
instance, the survey questionnaire on use-inspired and translational 
research activities will also collect information on intellectual 
property (e.g., invention disclosures, patents granted, licensing 
agreements, royalties earned) as well as where along is the research 
spectrum of an activity (e.g., technology and adoption readiness 
levels). For the workforce development survey questionnaire, 
information will also be collected on the targeted population(s) of the 
workforce development activity. Individual NSF Engines may use the data 
for internal assessments and to help inform decision making. Data 
collected from this effort will also be used to monitor and assess the 
progress made in use-inspired and translational research, workforce 
development, DEIA, and ecosystem building within and across NSF 
Engines.
    In addition to the web-based surveys, follow-up interviews and 
focus groups will be conducted with project team leaders, such as 
Principal Investigators (PIs), Principal Directors (PDs), Chief 
Executive Officers (CEO), and members of the governance boards, as well 
as NSF Engines stakeholders, such NSF Engines participants, and partner 
and community-based organizations. Case studies and focus group 
interviews will be used to collect qualitatively rich discursive and 
observational information that cannot be collected within web surveys. 
Both interviews (focus groups and/or follow-up) and case studies will 
be conducted virtually with the possibility of in-person interviews and 
non-participant observation to be held in the future.
    NSF's TIP directorate will only submit a collection for approval 
under this clearance if it meets the following conditions:
    [cir] The collection has a reasonably low burden for respondents 
(based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of 
respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and is low-cost for the 
Federal government;
    [cir] The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues 
of concern for other Federal agencies; and
    [cir] Information gathered will be used for the dual and 
interrelated purposes of disseminating information about the NSF 
Engines program and using this information to conduct enhanced program 
monitoring for NSF Engines, identify and implement efficiencies, and 
make programmatic improvements.
    Feedback collected under this clearance provides useful information 
for the continued evolution of the NSF Engines program, but it may not 
yield data that can be generalized to the overall population in all 
instances. Our qualitative data collection campaigns--follow-up 
interviews, focus groups, and case studies--are designed to provide 
contextual understanding of the progress made by each NSF Engine, and 
to identify NSF Engines or projects that demonstrate exceptional 
performance in efforts to build an inclusive, sustainable innovation 
ecosystem. All data collection campaigns (e.g., web-based surveys, 
interviews, focus groups), collectively, will help TIP monitor the 
progress of individual NSF Engines, identify trends over time, and 
assess overall program performance.
    Affected Public: Please refer to the detailed descriptions of each 
programmatic category for the targeted groups.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: For each Engine 
award, we anticipate the following lower and upper bounds for the 
numbers of responses and response burdens by collection method:

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                                                                                           Estimated                        Approximate     Approximate
                                   Programmatic     Estimated  lower  Estimated  upper      average       Frequency of      lower bound     upper bound
       Collection method             category      bound  (number of   bound  (number    response time   data collection     response        response
                                                       responses)       of responses)        (min)                        burden (hours)  burden (hours)
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Web-based surveys.............  NSF Engine input.  45...............  350.............               5  Rolling basis...               4              29
                                Individuals......  20...............  200.............              10  Once a year.....               3              33
                                Partner            10...............  100.............              30  Twice a year....              10             100
                                 organizations.
                                Programmatic       15...............  50..............              45  Twice a year....              23              75
                                 activities.
Interviews and focus groups...  NSF Engine wide..  15 individuals...  50 individuals..              90  Up to twice a                 45             150
                                                                                                         year.
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    Respondents: Lower bound estimate of 60 individuals and upper bound 
estimate of 400 individuals per NSF Engine award per year.
    Annual Responses: Lower and upper bound estimates of 100 and 600 
responses per NSF Engine per year, respectively. The total number of 
annual responses will be based on the total number of NSF Engines 
awarded, which is determined by annual funding availability.
    Frequency of Response: Please refer to the description of 
programmatic categories for frequency of data collection.
    Average Minutes per Response: 30.
    Burden Hours: Lower and upper bound estimates of approximately 85 
and 400 hours per NSF Engine award, respectively.

    Dated: October 6, 2023.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2023-22598 Filed 10-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P