NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) initiated the National Network of Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs (BD Hubs) program in FY 2015. Four BD Hubs – Midwest, Northeast, South, and West – were established to foster multi-sector collaborations among academia, industry, and government, both nationally and internationally. These BD Hubs are serving a convening and coordinating role by bringing together a wide range of Big Data stakeholders in order to connect solution seekers with solution providers.
BD Hubs activities. The BD Hubs connect within and across regions to foster activity around big data and data science. Their specific activity in accelerating engagement falls into three general categories: programmatic activities, socio-technical services, and education and workforce training. Some of these activities serve the community, either in service of community-led activity or by working hand-in-hand with members of the community. Types of anticipated accomplishments for a given BD Hub include, but are not limited to, the following:
Programmatic activities that accelerate academic, industry, and community stakeholder engagement in big data and data science such as:
- Fostering ideation among academic, industry, and community stakeholders;
- Developing transformative initiatives and programming in response to regional or national needs;
- Regionally engaging thought leaders; and
- Providing staff resources in aid of community-led activity.
Socio-technical shared resources/services such as:
- Acting as a coordination entity to help BD Hubs, BD Spokes, and HDR projects make their data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable;
- Serving as a central repository of resources and expertise for best practices, such as data use agreements or data curation services within the region;
- Serving as a clearinghouse for regional partners with data, researchers with expertise, and educators with curricular materials;
- Identifying and fostering responses to incomplete data infrastructure, such as persistent ID services; and
- Brokering partnerships among stakeholders through seed funding to stimulate big data and data science innovation.
Data science education and workforce development activities such as:
- Responding to regional needs for data science education and workforce training, including serving as a clearinghouse of effective practices;
- Facilitating opportunities for student internships with industry;
- Providing a platform or forum for broadening participation in data science; and
- Conducting data science educational activities.
A map of recent awards made through this program can be viewed at: https://www.nsf.gov/awards/award_visualization.jsp?org=NSF&pims_id=505185&ProgEleCode=024Y,8083&from=fund.
Some of the opportunities that present themselves to the BD Hubs may be national in nature; large industries or federal agencies, for instance, are not regionally focused. In order for the BD Hubs to be responsive to national opportunities, the eventual funded BD Hubs should plan to work collaboratively with one another to form a lightweight national BD Hubs entity that has shared and equitable leadership (such as through a rotating chairperson role among each BD Hub on an yearly basis). The formation of such an organizational entity can be specified as a task to undertake following award. Having a lightweight coordination body in place to respond to national opportunities better positions the BD Hubs collectively to respond to future opportunities such as those related to the HDR Big Idea.