Opportunity Information: Apply for 21 535
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Smart and Connected Communities (SampCC) grant opportunity supports research that helps communities use intelligent technologies in ways that genuinely improve everyday life. The program is built around the idea that cities, towns, counties, neighborhoods, rural areas, and tribal regions are being reshaped by fast-moving technologies that connect people, services, infrastructure, and the environment. While that shift can lead to better health, safety, economic opportunity, accessibility, and overall quality of life, it also creates real challenges where technology and society collide, such as equity, privacy, governance, trust, and long-term maintenance. NSF is looking for projects that strengthen the scientific and engineering foundations for these kinds of technology-enabled community transformations, rather than just deploying tools for their own sake.
A key feature of this opportunity is its emphasis on community-defined problems and meaningful partnerships. NSF defines a "community" as a geographically bounded place with the structure and ability to engage with the research, and it expects researchers to work closely with stakeholders to identify and shape the challenge being addressed. Stakeholders can include residents; local neighborhood groups; nonprofits and philanthropic organizations; local businesses; and public or civic entities such as libraries, museums, schools, public works departments, and health and social service agencies. The goal is for real community needs to drive use-inspired research questions, with researchers and community partners piloting solutions together in the real world.
The program defines a "smart and connected community" as one that deliberately integrates intelligent technologies with the natural and built environments, including infrastructure, to improve social, economic, and environmental well-being for people who live, work, learn, or travel there. Because of that definition, strong proposals typically combine technical innovation (for example, sensing, data systems, AI, networks, cyber-physical systems, or decision-support tools) with social and behavioral understanding (such as policy, governance, human factors, ethics, equity, and community adoption). NSF also signals that it values sustainability beyond the award period, meaning projects should think through what happens after the research ends, including whether outcomes can be maintained, scaled, and transferred to other communities.
NSF offers three main funding paths under this solicitation. The central option is the SampCC Integrative Research Grants (SCC-IRG), which fund multidisciplinary, community-engaged research and pilot deployments. SCC-IRG has two tracks: Track 1 supports larger projects with budgets between $1,500,001 and $2,500,000 for up to four years, while Track 2 supports projects up to $1,500,000 for up to three years. There is also a specific Track 2 collaboration option involving the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), aimed at joint US-Japan projects focused on COVID-19 recovery and broader resilience planning for pandemics and disasters, including how communities adapt to a post-COVID "new normal."
For teams that are not yet ready to submit a full integrative research proposal, NSF also offers SampCC Planning Grants (SCC-PG). These are one-year awards up to $150,000 intended for capacity building, partnership development, co-design activities with community stakeholders, and other preparatory work that leads to a stronger, well-developed future SCC-IRG submission. This pathway is designed to help teams align around community needs, refine research questions, and build the collaborations needed for integrative, real-world pilots.
The third category is the SampCC Virtual Organization (SCC-VO). NSF is seeking proposals to create a single, program-wide virtual organization that connects SampCC investigators and their teams (including community partners), enables sharing of knowledge and artifacts produced by projects, and builds collaboration and information exchange across researchers and stakeholder communities. NSF expects to fund no more than one SCC-VO award, with funding up to $250,000 per year for up to three years. This component is meant to strengthen the overall SampCC ecosystem, making it easier for lessons, tools, and practices to spread beyond individual projects.
Administratively, this is an NSF discretionary grant program in the science and technology R and D space, supported across multiple NSF directorates: Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). The opportunity lists unrestricted eligibility (open to any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the solicitation). The opportunity information provided indicates it was created November 26, 2020, with an original closing date of February 24, 2021, and an expectation of around 30 awards.Apply for 21 535
- The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Smart and Connected Communities" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.070, 47.075, 47.076.
- This funding opportunity was created on Nov 26, 2020.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 24, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 30 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.
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