Is the work innovative? 

This question is included in the evaluation of NIH R01 grants as part of the Importance of the Research under the new review framework, and is the second component of the Research Strategy. In order for your grant to be funded, you must be able to convey how your proposed research program is innovative. Innovation can be both technical and conceptual, and each type of innovation should be explicitly addressed within the grant. 

Technical Innovation

Technological innovation commonly refers to the instrumentation and methodologies you propose to employ to answer your research question. In this section, you should highlight any cutting edge equipment, methods, or technologies included in your grant. Remember that the NIH is a conservative institution and requires demonstrating feasibility. Therefore, cutting-edge can be defined fairly broadly. The equipment, method, or techniques you discuss could be generally new or just new to the specific question your research program addresses.

When writing about a new technology, method, or technique, you should ensure that you clearly state what the technology is, how it works, what its output is, and what you will learn from this output that cannot be learned via more routine methods. “The [FANCY MICROSCOPE] is a cutting-edge imaging system that employs a complex lens configuration coupled with a novel sharpening algorithm to allow imaging of cellular structures down to [RESOLUTION]. Previous technology was limited at [RESOLUTION]. With the [FANCY MICROSCOPE] we can screen through tissue sections looking for [WHAT YOU CAN NOW DO], allowing us to understand, for the first time [WHAT COOL THING YOU UNDERSTAND NOW]. This question has stymied the field for decades. We will openly publish our data (see Data Sharing Plan), allowing other scientists in the field to apply it to their research to provide a more comprehensive picture of [DISEASE].

Conceptual Innovation

Conceptual innovation refers to the idea and approach of your research program. How is your framing of your research question and your approach to solve it innovative? What distinguishes you from how others in the field are approaching the general problem your research addresses? How will the data gathered via your proposal shape how the scientific community addresses the general problem? What will be the impact on society (lifespan, health, costs). 

Length and Formatting

This section should be clearly identified within the research strategy, set off with a number and the word “Innovation”, and the conceptual and technical innovations similarly labeled.. In most cases, a half to three-quarters of a page of the research strategy is sufficient to demonstrate innovation. 

You should also be sure to explicitly address innovation in the narrative, abstract, and specific aims sections of your grant submission, as these sections are all condensed versions of the information detailed within the Research Strategy.