NIST's PSCR Announces $30M Grant Program for Research & Development of Public Safety Communications
The Public Safety Communications Research Division (PSCR) of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) just announced a $30 million grant program to fund research and development in six key technological areas of public safety communications: mission critical voice, location based services (LBS), public safety analytics, communication demand modeling, research and prototyping platforms, and resilient systems. This initiative is part of NIST’s Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP). Its goal is to support the emerging Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, which seeks to provide first responders with the same broadband communications and innovative technologies that consumers on commercial networks now expect.
The grant program will run from FY2017-FY2019. NIST anticipates awards will range from $10,000 to $1 million per year, with project performance periods of up to two years. The grants are available to all non-federal entities and the program does not require matching funds. NIST asks that applicants tailor projects to disseminate their ideas and technology to the public safety stakeholder community through publications, technology transfer, training, and other means. To ensure relevance, NIST encourages applicants to engage with first responders in their projects. Applicants seeking public-safety partners can email PSCR at pscr@nist.gov to express their interest along with their specific areas of expertise or concern.
A full description of the program, application requirements, and evaluation criteria are available here. Applicants must submit their applications to grants.gov by Tuesday, February 28, 2017, at 11:59 EST.
