Verticals-enabling Intelligent Network Systems | 25 539

Opportunity Information: Apply for 25 539

The Verticals-enabling Intelligent Network Systems (VINES) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity focused on pushing the next wave of advanced intelligent network systems, often described as NextG, across the full user-to-cloud continuum (user devices, edge computing, core networks, and cloud infrastructure). The central idea is to deliver major jumps in network performance and capability while still protecting two things that are often sacrificed when systems get more complex: resilience (the ability to keep working under failures, attacks, congestion, or disruptions) and interoperability (the ability for different systems, vendors, layers, and domains to work together). VINES is intentionally broad across communications, networking, and computing, but it is also practical in spirit: it is looking for innovations that connect technical advances to real vertical domains (for example, industrial systems, transportation, health, public safety, immersive applications, and other NextG-enabled sectors), and it emphasizes secure, open, and trustworthy networking principles.

A key feature of VINES is that it is set up as a multisector, multi-agency effort. NSF leads the program, but it is built in partnership with specific industry funding partners and in cooperation with U.S. federal partners and international agencies. On the industry side, Ericsson, Intel, and Qualcomm are explicitly identified as the industry partners in this solicitation, and their role is to provide annual unrestricted donations that NSF uses to support Track 1 (not Track 2). On the federal side, NIST, OUSD (RampE), and DHS helped shape the solicitation and may co-fund selected projects depending on available funds, with awards ultimately made and managed by NSF. Internationally, the program includes partners from Finland, India, Japan, and Sweden, reflecting the reality that the NextG ecosystem is global and aligning with principles in the February 26, 2024 joint statement supporting 6G systems that are secure, open, and resilient by design.

The solicitation is organized into two distinct tracks that reflect different points on the research-to-deployment pathway. Track 1, called Use-inspired Fundamental Research, supports foundational research that is motivated by real use needs but still targets core scientific and engineering advances. The intent is to develop genuinely new networking techniques and solutions, not just incremental improvements, and to do so in ways that can scale across layers of the protocol stack and computation stack. Track 2, called Verticals-Driven Technology Development, Demonstration, and Translation, is aimed at higher technology readiness level (TRL) work: maturing and integrating technologies, demonstrating them in realistic settings, and moving toward adoption-ready outcomes. A practical funding rule separates the tracks: the industry partner donations are used to fund Track 1, and those industry contributions will not be used to fund Track 2.

VINES also places real weight on collaboration that crosses traditional boundaries. It encourages teams that span disciplines (for example, wireless, networking, distributed systems, AI/ML, security, hardware, spectrum, and applications) and that can work across organizations and geographies when appropriate. In addition to proposals from entirely U.S.-funded teams, VINES allows international collaborative proposals, but these are structured as bilateral projects: a U.S. team partners with a team from exactly one participating international partner country/agency. In those international collaborations, the expectation is that the foreign collaborators are funded by their own national funding agency rather than by NSF.

Eligibility depends on which track you apply to. For Track 1, proposals can be submitted only by U.S.-based accredited institutions of higher education (including two-year and four-year schools such as community colleges) and by U.S.-based non-profit, non-academic organizations that are directly tied to education or research activities (such as independent research labs, museums, observatories, and professional societies). Track 2 is broader and additionally allows U.S.-based for-profit organizations (including small businesses) with strong R&D or education capabilities, as well as state and local governments (including school districts) and federally recognized Tribal Nations. The PI eligibility rules are also track-specific. Track 1 has tighter PI requirements: senior/key personnel generally must hold a tenured/tenure-track role or a primary full-time paid research or teaching appointment at a U.S.-based campus of an eligible organization, and individuals with primary appointments at for-profit non-academic organizations or at overseas branch campuses of U.S. universities are not eligible. Foreign researchers can contribute expertise on Track 1, but they cannot receive NSF funds. Track 2 notes that individuals with primary appointments at overseas branch campuses of U.S. IHEs are not eligible, and otherwise follows standard NSF PAPPG eligibility guidance.

Industry participation is treated carefully, especially in Track 1, to avoid conflicts with the industry funding structure. Industry partners (as defined in this solicitation) are allowed to participate in Track 2 proposals, but they are not permitted to participate in Track 1 proposals in any capacity, whether funded or unfunded. That restriction is explicit and extends even to items like collaboration letters, meaning a Track 1 team cannot include those specific companies as collaborators at all. The solicitation also flags additional limitations for individuals affiliated with those industry partners (for example, people employed by, consulting for, or actively contracted to provide services for the company), indicating that participation is allowed only under specific constraints.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this is an NSF discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 25-539) with an expected close date of 2025-08-25. The award ceiling is listed as $6,000,000, and NSF anticipates making about 40 awards. The opportunity is categorized under science and technology and other R&D, with CFDA listings including 47.041, 47.049, 47.070, 47.084, and 97.108. The solicitation also includes a set of common NextG-related abbreviations (for example, AI, IoT, ISAC, MIMO, THz, TRL, XR/VR/AR, UAV), reflecting the broad technical space VINES expects projects to draw from.

Overall, VINES is trying to fund projects that do more than optimize a single layer or solve a narrow problem. The program is explicitly designed to move the field toward NextG network systems that are simultaneously faster and more capable, more resilient, more interoperable, and more trustworthy, while also building pathways for technology translation and workforce development. Track 1 is where NSF wants the bold fundamental ideas that can reshape what future networks can do, and Track 2 is where NSF wants more deployment-oriented teams to prove those ideas can be integrated, demonstrated, and matured into technologies that real vertical sectors can adopt.

• The U.S. National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Verticals-enabling Intelligent Network Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.041, 47.049, 47.070, 47.084, 97.108.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-05-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-08-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $6,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 40 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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