When the U.S. National Science Foundation began its X-Labs program in May, the agency said the higher-risk, higher-funded awards would create new kinds of partnerships that would confront urgent scientific and technological challenges. Now, the NSF is doubling down on the idea, with an announcement in October that charities, companies, and investment funds would provide X-Lab winners practical support such as laboratory space, software, shared equipment, and access to key data and expert guidance.

The help provided by these organizations, which the NSF is calling “consortium partners,” will not give them ownership stakes in the X-Labs projects. The addition of the consortium partners may help the initial winners—who will be announced later in November or December and who receive US $1.5 million for a 9-month planning phase—reach the aggressive targets needed to compete for much larger $50 million multi-year grants.

“It’s a way of telling X-Labs applicants you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, so you’re not spending half of your X-Labs money to go build or buy basic infrastructure,” says Matt Cimaglia, an investor in consortium partners Occam Foundry and Florida Quantum Center.

The NSF initially announced two focus areas for the X-Labs program: scientific instruments for sensing and imaging and photonic microchips for quantum systems. In September, the agency followed up with three additional areas in AI for physical devices, decoding biological sequences, and pushing the physical limits of computing.

The NSF requires potential X-Labs award recipients to eventually demonstrate autonomy : Leaders for projects must be focused on the work full-time, for example, and must be able to make hiring and spending decisions independently from any university or commercial owners.

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