This cooperative agreement with MetroLab Network aims to build capacity for the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC), a research and action competition in the Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) domain, as well as the broader S&CC research ecosystem. Building off of NSF's S&CC program, the CIC aims to flip the community-university dynamic, asking communities to identify civic priorities ripe for innovation and to partner with researchers to address those priorities. The CIC will help bridge the gap between research and deployment, ensuring that research is conducted in a context that allows for realistic testing and evaluation of impact. Features include engagement of other S&CC-focused funders as partners; shortening the typical timeline of civic research projects; and fostering cohorts organized around specific problem statements to encourage sharing of information across teams. MetroLab will work with Smart Cities Lab to support the CIC through outreach, capacity building, support and programming for finalists and winners, and joint-funder engagement. 

The CIC is an opportunity to transform civic research. It will enable data-driven, research-informed communities, engage residents in the process, and build a more cohesive research-to-innovation pipeline by finding synergies between funders of use-inspired research and funders of civic innovation. It will lay a foundation for a broader and more fluid exchange of research interests and civic priorities that will create new instances of collaboration and introduce new areas of technical and social scientific discovery. The CIC is designed to support transformative projects while fostering a collaborative spirit. 

The specific activities supporting the CIC include "boot camps" for teams of communities and universities to strengthen their partnerships and projects. It will also involve the cultivation of "communities-of-practice" oriented around specific domains, to facilitate knowledge-sharing and cross-site collaboration. The long-term impacts of this work will include deeper collaborations across sectors and regions; improved information sharing and best practices development; and greater impact from research outcomes in cities and communities around the United States.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.