National Science Foundation to Fund Blockchain Security Research

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is seeking to fund research into how technologies like blockchain can improve the resiliency of cyber-infrastructure.

According to a grant proposal solicitation initially released last year and updated at the start of 2017, the NSF is looking to fund research to the tune of $8.5m. The agency is looking to grant between seven and nine awards of up to $1m apiece.

While not explicitly focused on blockchain, the grant does invoke the technology as one topics of exploration once funds have been granted. The NSF is a US government agency that funds scientific research in a variety of areas.

As the solicitation noted:

“With the growing amount of remote instruments and the increasing amount of data being collected from multiple, often remote, wireless and mobile sensors, science is increasingly distributed and virtual. Solutions such as the introduction of blockchain technology are needed to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data as it traverses multiple environments such as mobile, cloud, campus, and Internet networks.”

It’s not the first time that the NSF has thrown its weight behind research involving the technology.

In mid-2015, the agency awarded roughly $3m in grant funding for a cryptocurrency research project involving participants from Cornell, the University of Maryland and the University of California Berkeley.

On a broader scale, the US government has moved in the past year and a half to promote or fund blockchain projects or startups.

For this latest grant round, the NSF is looking for university-based teams, as well as nonprofits and research outfits, to submit proposals. The proposal deadline is 1st March, according to the solicitation sheet.

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