Key Dates

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)

Purpose

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to solicit ideas on NIH-wide challenges and opportunities that may be of interest to the NIH Common Fund.

Background

The Common Fund supports bold scientific programs that catalyze discovery across all biomedical and behavioral research. These programs bring together investigators and multiple NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs) to collaborate on innovative research. Common Fund programs are expected to address high priority challenges for the NIH as a whole and make a broader impact in the scientific community. Many Common Fund programs are designed to produce specific deliverables, such as broadly useful datasets, tools, technologies, research methods, or fundamental scientific paradigms. These deliverables are expected to have exceptional impact on the way science is conducted, our understanding of human physiology or disease, or our ability to support human health.

All Common Fund investments meet the following criteria:

• Transformative – strong potential for exceptionally high and broadly applicable impact in biomedical/behavioral research
• Catalytic – time-limited investments of 10 years or less, designed to capitalize on new scientific knowledge or breakthroughs to accelerate and enable subsequent research
• Goal-driven – include defined goals to develop specific deliverables (such as new knowledge, data sets, resources, methods, or technologies)
• Synergistic – advance the missions of multiple ICOs, leverage expertise from multiple ICOs, and accelerate research relevant to multiple diseases and conditions 
• Novel – pursue innovative solutions to specific scientific challenges important to the NIH mission but that no other entity is likely or able to address.

In Fiscal Year 2024, the Common Fund also launched the new Venture Program. Venture is designed to leverage brief, focused investments to address bold proposals responsive to the shared priorities of NIH ICOs.

Venture investments must meet these additional criteria:

• Bold – take significant scientific risk commensurate with the potential for significant impact if successful
• Nimble – can be implemented rapidly in response to scientific opportunity
• Focused – limited to three years, up to $5 million annually to invest in a clearly defined research topic

For additional information on Common Fund and Venture criteria, please visit: https://commonfund.nih.gov/criteria.

Information Requested

The NIH requests ideas for biomedical and behavioral research challenges and opportunities that may be of interest to the Common Fund. These ideas may inform activities to advance areas of science relevant to these challenges/opportunities, including, but not limited to, scientific workshops, Venture initiatives, and/or future Common Fund programs.

NIH encourages idea submissions that may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• A critical challenge or exciting emerging opportunity in biomedical/behavioral research
• Resources, tools, or knowledge that are needed to address the important challenge or opportunity
• Scientific advancements or other factors that make addressing the important challenge or opportunity particularly timely

Please consider:

• The potential impact on human health
• Completed work products that could be accomplished in 2-3 years (Venture initiatives) or 5-10 years (Common Fund programs)

NIH encourages concise ideas to facilitate the review process. Submissions should focus on broad concepts rather than detailed descriptions.

How to Submit a Response

All responses must be submitted electronically on the submission website.

Responses must be received by 11:59:59 pm (ET) on August 10, 2024.

Responses to this RFI are voluntary and may be submitted anonymously. Please do not include any information you do not wish to be made public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should not be included in your response. The Government will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion. The Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitations(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and is not a solicitation for applications or an obligation on the part of the Government to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. Please note that the Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for use of that information.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Lorjetta Schools, MBA
Office of the Director (OD)
Phone: 240-306-4317
Email: cf-ideas@mail.nih.gov