This is awesome, and is a great example of the type of funding structure that government orgs (looking at you, NIH) should be offering. Government-backed research is the bedrock upon which the US economy rests, and as science becomes more expensive, we need to support research at the intersection of academia and industry more explicitly.

ARPA-H was a great step towards this goal for public health-focused efforts (-omics experiments aren't going to pay for themselves, at least at first) but a more general funding mechanism has been needed. I think this is a great direction for the NSF, and to be honest it's refreshing to see something like this given the horrible stance that this government has taken towards science (which has been compounded by the biotech bubble/correction).