Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems

The Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) program is administered by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and was announced under solicitation NSF 24-606 on September 13, 2024. This program builds on NSF’s long-standing role in fostering scientific innovation and seeks to support the creation and sustainability of open-source ecosystems (OSEs). These ecosystems are defined as self-sustaining organizations that coordinate distributed development of open-source products such as software, hardware, models, specifications, and data platforms. NSF recognizes the transformative power of open-source collaboration and aims to ensure that products of federally funded research can evolve into robust, community-driven ecosystems with broad societal and national impacts. The purpose of POSE is not to fund new development of open-source products themselves, but rather to establish managing organizations that can build and maintain the governance, legal, technical, and community structures necessary for OSEs. By doing so, the program ensures that open-source products already created through research can grow into sustainable systems with wide adoption across academia, industry, government, and the non-profit sector. NSF envisions that OSEs will provide a pathway comparable to the Lab-to-Market framework but focused on open-source innovation. This transition aims to encourage long-term sustainability, security, and reliability while broadening participation across scientific and technical communities. POSE provides two phases of support. Phase I awards are scoping and planning projects intended for teams that have produced open-source research products with a small base of external users but limited organizational infrastructure. These one-year awards provide up to $300,000 to support ecosystem discovery, governance planning, security risk analysis, and community engagement strategies. Phase II awards support the establishment and expansion of a full OSE for projects that already have small but active communities of users and contributors. These two-year awards provide up to $1,500,000 to fund governance structures, continuous development models, risk management, sustainability strategies, and large-scale community building. Importantly, a Phase I award is not required to apply for Phase II, though Phase I training is strongly encouraged. NSF anticipates issuing between 30 and 50 total awards, with approximately 20 Phase I awards and 10 Phase II awards. The total estimated funding available is $27.8 million, contingent on appropriations and the quality of submissions. Awards will be made as standard or continuing grants. Applications must be submitted via Research.gov or Grants.gov and follow the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). Letters of intent and preliminary proposals are not required. However, applicants must include specific sections such as a "Context of OSE" narrative and a "Risk Analysis/Security Plan," and they must provide 3–5 letters of collaboration from current third-party users or contributors of the open-source product. Eligibility for POSE is broad but limited to U.S.-based institutions and organizations. Eligible applicants include accredited two- and four-year higher education institutions, independent nonprofit organizations such as museums and research laboratories, U.S.-based for-profit companies including small businesses, state and local governments, and federally recognized Tribal Nations. Proposals must designate a Principal Investigator who meets eligibility requirements. For institutions of higher education, this means holding a tenured, tenure-track, or full-time paid research or teaching appointment, or serving in a leadership role in an open-source program office. For other organizations, the PI must be a U.S.-based employee of the proposing entity. International participation is permitted as collaborators but cannot be directly funded by NSF. Applications for Phase I are due January 14, 2025, and annually on the second Tuesday in January thereafter. Applications for both Phase I and Phase II are due September 2, 2025, and annually on the first Tuesday in September thereafter. Proposals must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. in the applicant’s local time zone. Because the program operates on a recurring basis, unsuccessful applicants may have the opportunity to reapply in future cycles. Applicants should budget for mandatory training, known as I-Corps for POSE, which requires participation from both project team members and an external OSE mentor. This training supports applicants in developing governance, security, and community engagement strategies essential to successful OSEs. Merit review for POSE follows NSF’s standard criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts, with additional solicitation-specific requirements. Reviewers will assess the societal or national importance of the proposed OSE, the clarity of its long-term vision, evidence of an existing or potential user base, and the soundness of the proposed governance and sustainability model. Proposals must demonstrate that NSF’s support would serve as a critical catalyst for growth. Successful applicants will be notified through an NSF award notice, with reporting requirements including annual progress reports and a final outcomes report. Program contacts include Jeff Stanton, Nina Amla, and several other NSF program directors across relevant directorates, all of whom may be reached via the program email pose@nsf.gov. In summary, the NSF POSE program provides a structured pathway for research teams and organizations to transition open-source artifacts into sustainable ecosystems with significant societal impact. By funding organizational infrastructure, governance, and community development, rather than product development itself, NSF aims to ensure that open-source research products can be maintained and expanded for long-term benefit. The recurring deadlines and structured review process provide opportunities for a wide variety of applicants across academia, industry, and government to contribute to advancing open-source innovation in the United States.

Ensure inclusion of all RWR-marked sections: “Context of OSE”, “Risk Analysis/Security Plan”, and third-party letters. Include I-Corps training budget if Phase I.