National Institute of Standards & Technology

NIST: Promoting U.S. Innovation and 

Industrial Competitiveness

Evolution of NIST Partnerships

VCAT – October 2015| 1
Growth of Partnerships at NIST

2000 2005 2010 2015

Hollings Marine 

Laboratory JQI

JILA (1962)

BNL (1980) 

CARB/IBBR (1987)

NCCOE JIMB QuICS

Resilience 

COE

Forensics 

COE

Smart Grid Framework

Cloud Computing 

Reference 

Architecture

NSTIC

OSACS

Resilience 

Planning 

Guide

Future: CPS Framework, PSCR grants..

Big 

Data 

PWG

Cyber 

Framework

CPS 

PWG

Smart

America

SHA-3 Competition 

begins

2

NRI

nSoft

Adv. 

Mtrls. COE CAC

PSCR 

Demo 

Network
Leveraging the nation’s best experts in a range of S&T fields

3

Joint Institutes and Centers of Excellence

Joint Institutes/Centers

• JILA –CO

• Institute for Bioscience and 

Biotechnology Research—MD

• Hollings Marine Laboratory—SC

• Joint Quantum Institute, Joint Center for Quantum 

Information and Computer Science—MD

• National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence—MD

• Joint Institute for Metrology in Biology—CA

• BNL-NIST partnership–NY

NIST Centers of Excellence

• Center for Hierarchical Materials 

Design (CHiMaD)—IL

• Center for Statistics and 

Applications in Forensic Evidence 

(csafe) –IA, PA, VA, CA

• Center for Risk-Based Community 

Resilience Planning —CO, OK, TX, 

WA, AL, CA
NNMI-NIST Labs connections America Makes DMDII LIFT

Power AmericaIAMCIFlex-hybrid ElectronicsIntegrated PhotonicsFibers and TextilesSmart Manufacturing

Strong technical programs in 

the NIST Labs         

NIST Labs staff contributed to 

FOA / vision / review         

NIST Labs staff serves in 

advisory roles      |-------TBD-------|

Active collaborations between 

NNMI and NIST Labs      |-------TBD-------|

VCAT – October 2015| 4
NIST Partnerships – Benefits

• Provides access to expertise that NIST could otherwise not be 

able to find and leverage. 

• Ability to enter into technical areas with significant potential 

for growth and possible risks without developing formal inhouse capabilities. 

• Provides a pipeline for future skilled workforce.

• Ability to work with academia and industry in a flexible and 

effective manner. 

• Diverse models allow for flexibility to structure the 

collaboration to more efficiently address challenges.

5
Partnerships – Limitations

• Launching partnerships can be challenging and time 

consuming due to lack of specific authorities and existing 

requirements.

• Loss of NIST culture at off-site centers; embedded staff 

may not feel connected to NIST. 

• Comparing and evaluating partnerships to determine 

overall impact and when/if to disengage. 

• Need to understand the balance between in house and 

off-site expertise and the long-term impact to NIST.

6
Key Questions for the VCAT

• From your perspective, are these partnerships an effective means 

for engaging and collaborating with industry and/or academia to 

address NIST’s strategic priorities?

• With flat R&D budgets on the horizon what is the appropriate 

balance of direct investment in NIST core research programs versus 

investment in partnerships to most effectively complement NIST 

research capabilities? 

• Given NIST’s research portfolio and current suite of partnership 

models, are there other flexibilities and tools we should consider to 

address priority research areas and retain technical expertise to 

support the NIST mission?

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