The NIH Common Fund Venture Program

The Common Fund Venture Program is a new area of Common Fund support that provides a framework for development of short-term Common Fund initiatives that embrace scientific risk and are responsive to the shared priorities of NIH Institutes, Centers, and the Office of the Director.

Venture initiatives are Common Fund investments and so must meet Common Fund criteria, as expressed below. However, additional criteria also apply, emphasizing brief, modest investments that can be implemented quickly in response to emerging opportunities. Venture investments should be lightweight and nimble while having a strong potential to accelerate science quickly.

The Venture Program launched in Fiscal Year 2024 with two new initiatives: Oculomics and SysBio.

What makes Venture initiatives special?

Venture projects are:

• Bold: they take significant risk commensurate with the potential for significant impact if successful
• Nimble: they can be implemented rapidly in response to scientific opportunity
• Focused: they are limited to three years, up to $5 million annually to invest in a clearly defined research topic

What makes Venture initiatives consistent with the Common Fund?

Common Fund criteria will apply to Venture investments, with accelerated timelines and nimble project management. Venture initiatives will be:

• Transformative: projects have strong potential for exceptionally high and broadly applicable impact in biomedical/behavioral research
• Catalytic: projects are time-limited investments of 10 years or less, designed to capitalize on new scientific knowledge or breakthroughs to accelerate and enable subsequent research
• Goal-driven: projects include defined goals to develop specific deliverables (such as new knowledge, data sets, resources, methods, or technologies)
• Novel: projects pursue innovative solutions to specific scientific challenges important to the NIH mission but that no other entity is likely or able to address

Venture initiatives are not:

• Pilot programs to prepare for larger Common Fund investments
• A means to address high-priority projects for individual ICOs
• Support for exploratory, open-ended research without specific goals and milestones

Governance:

Ideas for new Venture initiatives are submitted through the ICO Directors to the Office of Strategic Coordination, which oversees the NIH Common Fund, leveraging public input as appropriate. Initiative idea submissions can derive from any areas of biomedical and behavioral research. All proposals are evaluated for responsiveness to the Common Fund and Venture criteria, and considered by the Venture Board, made up of ICO Directors. Promising ideas are recommended by the Board for full development. The NIH Director provides final approval. Updates on the progress of Venture initiatives will be described on their websites.