§19110 Test beds

Summary

Create a program to give competitive awards to colleges, nonprofits, or groups of them so they can build and run test beds. The Directorate's Director must do this with help from the head of NIST, the Secretary of Energy, and other federal agencies as needed. Test beds can include fabrication shops and computer systems to help develop, run, combine, deploy, and sometimes show new important technologies (hardware or software). The Director must coordinate with other federal test beds so money and work are not wasted. Applicants must send a proposal with the information the Director asks for. At minimum it must say what technologies the test bed will focus on, the project goals, how the team will get the right workers, how the test bed will be widely accessible, how it will work with companies (including shared research and funding and involvement of industry and labor), how it will support inventors and startups, how it will increase participation by groups underrepresented in STEM, how new technologies will create quality U.S. jobs, how the test bed will continue after federal funding ends, how lessons will be shared with U.S. or allied groups in the U.S., and how it will prevent misuse of research, data, and inventions. Award money may buy equipment and support students, faculty, staff, and postdocs. When choosing winners, the Director should try to spread test beds across different regions.