Future Manufacturing
Future Manufacturing supports innovative research and education to revolutionize manufacturing, addressing societal challenges and fostering new industries with up to $3M for 4 years.
This grant is no longer accepting proposals
U.S. National Science Foundation has archived this opportunity.
Funder: National Science Foundation
Due Dates: June 18, 2025 (Full Proposal)
Funding Amounts: Up to $3,000,000 for 4 years (Research Grants) | Up to $500,000 for 2 years (Seed Grants)
Summary: Supports fundamental research, education, and workforce training to catalyze transformative new manufacturing capabilities in the U.S.
Key Information: Proposals must enable fundamentally new manufacturing, not incremental improvements; cross-disciplinary teams and broadening participation are strongly encouraged.
Description
This opportunity supports fundamental research, education, and workforce development to enable transformative advances in manufacturing. The program aims to overcome scientific, technological, educational, economic, and social barriers to catalyze new manufacturing capabilities that do not exist today. Projects should address urgent societal challenges—such as climate change, health disparities, and environmental sustainability—by developing innovative manufacturing approaches that could seed future industries and invigorate the U.S. manufacturing ecosystem.
Three thrust areas are supported:
- Future Cyber Manufacturing Research: Integrating computing, AI, data analytics, and cyber-physical systems to revolutionize manufacturing.
- Future Eco Manufacturing Research: Enabling sustainable, lifecycle-aware manufacturing processes and materials.
- Future Biomanufacturing Research: Advancing biologically based production and integration of biological knowledge with manufacturing technology.
Proposals must take a convergence approach, involving cross-disciplinary teams (e.g., engineers, scientists, mathematicians, social/behavioral scientists, STEM education researchers, and arts/humanities experts). Projects that include significant participation from minority-serving institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges, EPSCoR states, or that incorporate expertise in diversity and inclusion are especially encouraged.
Proposals that are incremental improvements over existing advanced manufacturing technologies will not be competitive.
