NIH Awards IdeaScale $6M Contract to Close the Research Gap

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded IdeaScale a new $6 million, four-year contract to advance its scientific mission.

This award is about more than software. It reflects NIH’s trust in a system that helps teams close the research gap — turning frontline insights into actionable research priorities, scaling breakthroughs across institutes, and creating a transparent, auditable path from idea to funded outcome.

Closing the Research Gap

This contract represents a step forward in how the NIH engages with the scientific community. With IdeaScale, research planning moves from a closed process to one that is transparent, inclusive, and actionable.

NIH teams now have the ability to:

• Turn insights into strategy by capturing frontline perspectives and converting them into clear research priorities

• Accelerate progress across institutes by scaling a repeatable model that drives consistency and collaboration

• Build a direct path from idea to impact with data-driven roadmaps that guide funding and decision-making

Every idea submitted through IdeaScale is evaluated, prioritized, and connected to next steps. Contributions become part of a visible process that leads to real-world outcomes. In this way, IdeaScale ensures that the collective wisdom of patients, caregivers, researchers, and advocates becomes fuel for scientific discovery.

Proven Success with NINDS

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has already demonstrated how IdeaScale can transform research planning. By using our platform, NINDS built a repeatable process for engaging patients, caregivers, researchers, and advocates in meaningful dialogue.

With IdeaScale, NINDS collected hundreds of ideas, clustered and prioritized them with community input, and worked with expert reviewers to build formal research roadmaps. These roadmaps now guide funding decisions and give scientific communities a transparent view into how priorities are set.

The ME/CFS Research Roadmap is a strong example. IdeaScale gathered input from experts and the patient community, synthesized it into clear categories, and delivered a roadmap that balanced urgency with scientific feasibility. This process gave the community confidence that their voices shaped research direction.

Scaling Across NIH

This new NIH contract creates the opportunity to extend the successful approach pioneered at NINDS into additional institutes. By combining structured community engagement, expert validation, and FedRAMP-authorized compliance, IdeaScale is positioned to help NIH advance a new standard for collaborative research planning.

What’s Ahead

We are entering a new era where ideas do not sit idle, they become outcomes. At its heart, this award is about impact: turning ideas into cures, voices into roadmaps, and insights into action. With NIH leading the way and IdeaScale powering the process, research planning will never be the same. The science of tomorrow begins with the voices of today, and what comes next will set the standard for the entire industry.

Stay tuned for our upcoming white papers:

• From Insights to Impact: A Blueprint for NIH Research Collaboration

• From Ideas to Outcomes: How NINDS Uses Frontline Insights to Set Research Priorities

The future of research starts with the right tools. See how NIH is using IdeaScale to transform input into impact in these upcoming releases.