NIH Directors New Innovator Award Program (DP2 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA RM 21 016

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 016

The NIH Director's New Innovator Award Program (DP2, clinical trial optional) is a competitive NIH grant opportunity designed to back unusually creative early stage investigators who are proposing bold, high-impact ideas. The central goal is to fund highly innovative research that could significantly move the needle on big, important challenges tied to the NIH mission. It is explicitly meant for investigators early in their independent careers, and it emphasizes originality and potential impact rather than incremental extensions of prior work.

A key feature of this program is its broad scientific scope. NIH welcomes proposals across essentially the full range of disciplines connected to human health, including behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences. Projects can be basic, translational, or clinical in nature, and the announcement notes that clinical trials are optional, meaning applicants may propose studies that do or do not meet NIH's clinical trial definition. This wide-open topic area is intentional and is meant to encourage unconventional approaches and cross-cutting ideas that might not fit neatly into standard funding lanes.

The program also makes a point of strengthening diversity in the research workforce. NIH encourages applications that reflect the full diversity of scientists and institutions, including applicants from different backgrounds and from eligible organizations across all geographic locations. In practice, that means the opportunity is not framed as limited to a small set of elite research universities; it aims to attract strong candidates wherever they are based, as long as they meet NIH eligibility rules.

In terms of how it fits into NIH's overall funding landscape, the DP2 New Innovator Award is positioned as a complement to traditional R01 funding, not a replacement for it. R01 grants remain the main mechanism NIH uses to support early stage investigators, but the New Innovator Award is part of the NIH Common Fund's High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which is designed specifically for ideas that may be transformative but could be harder to support through conventional review pathways. The emphasis is on supporting researchers with exceptional creativity and giving them room to pursue ambitious projects that could have major downstream benefits for health and biomedical knowledge.

Eligibility is broad across many types of U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants include a wide range of government entities (state, county, city or township, special district governments), independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), other than institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible categories such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, eligible federal government agencies, and certain tribal entities (including Native American tribal governments that are federally recognized, and tribal organizations or governments that are not federally recognized under specific conditions).

There are important restrictions related to foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply directly, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, "foreign components" as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, which typically means a U.S. applicant organization may, under NIH rules and with appropriate justification and approvals, include certain project elements that occur outside the U.S. while still keeping the applicant organization domestic.

From the source data provided, the opportunity is administered by the National Institutes of Health, categorized as discretionary grant funding in the health area (CFDA 93.310), and was posted under Funding Opportunity Number RFA-RM-21-016. The original closing date listed is August 20, 2021, and the award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided excerpt.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH Directors New Innovator Award Program (DP2 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-05-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-08-20. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA RM 21 016

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