National Science Foundation (NSF's) National Science Board defined transformative research as "research that has the capacity to revolutionize existing fields, create new sub-fields, cause paradigm shifts, support discovery, and lead to radically new technologies.
[3] A 2008 report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences explicitly links financial support for early-career researchers and high-risk, high-reward or potentially transformative research to the national goal of "sustaining America's competitive advantage.
"[4] As a result of broad endorsement from program officials, policy analysts, economists, and various policy makers, NSF has recently amended its merit review criteria, according to which grant proposals are evaluated by reviewers, to include an emphasis on potentially transformative research.
[5] The following statement is now included in the Intellectual Merit criterion of the NSF Grant Proposal Guide:[6] "To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts?"
The workshop explored the history and alternative conceptions of a term that has come to play an increasingly important role in policy debates at NSF, at other federal agencies, and in public discourse about the future of science in society.