National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award is a research initiative first announced in 2007 designed to supports exceptionally creative, early-career investigators who propose innovative, high-impact projects.

The focus is specifically on "innovative" research that has a potential to produce paradigm shifting results.

In 2014 only the National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award had a lower "success rate.

NIA program leadership then rank the applications by averaging the Overall Scores, and the highest scored applications are considered finalists.

The final ranking is then sent to the NIH Director as a recommendation for funding.