Our Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) initiative is designed to explore – and seize – the potential within emerging fields of scientific inquiry to result in game-changing technologies for national security applications.
ARCs address topics of interest across all technical offices, seeking answers to high-risk, high-reward questions and assessing the impact of further investment on problems of importance to national security.
Managed by DARPA Innovation Fellows, ARCs enable rapid analysis of a high volume of promising new ideas by making targeted investments that are purposely limited in scope. Funding is intended to support one full-time-equivalent (FTE) scientist or engineer to explore their idea for one year. During each solicitation period, we evaluate ideas on a rolling basis and issue contracts for selected proposals within weeks.
Timeline and funding
ARC topics are designed for ideas that take one year to validate. The expected level of effort for a proposed research concept is one full-time equivalent (FTE) and 12 months. ARC opportunities remain open for up to six months.
Sub-awardees are not permitted. The maximum funding is $300,000.
Open topics
No ARC topics are accepting proposals at this time.
Active topics
| ARC | Date closed |
|---|---|
| SPREE | Nov. 7, 2023 |
| CKC | Nov. 30, 2024 |
| GLUE | Feb. 16, 2024 |
| FAARM | April 15, 2024 |
| DUF | May 5, 2024 |
| QUAMELEON | June 3, 2024 |
| INSPIRE | Jan. 13, 2025 |
| SAFRON | Jan. 31, 2025 |
| HYBRIDS | April 7, 2025 |
| COMPASS | May 12, 2025 |
| CRYSTAL | June 16, 2025 |
| MAGICS | July 10, 2025 |
Historical topics
These topics have concluded their research efforts.
Put your best idea forward
To respond to an open ARC topic:
- Review the ARC Exploration Announcement. This master solicitation includes an abstract template and model contract.
- Review the specific topic solicitation. This describes the opportunity, defines the research question, and explains how to submit an abstract.
- Prepare and submit a five-page abstract that provides a technical description of your idea.
- If selected for further evaluation, you will be invited to submit an oral proposal package and present your idea to DARPA. Successful proposals result in a Research Other Transaction (OT) award.
