The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) instrumentation and controls (I&C) regulatory infrastructure, established and supplemented over the decades, has addressed many safety concerns and issues as they arise, using the best information and techniques available at the time. As a result, the licensing process for new highly integrated I&C systems and digital upgrades of existing I&C systems has become prescriptive, cumbersome, and thereby resource/time-intensive. In creating a more efficient licensing process for small modular reactors (SMRs), the NRC staff implemented an enhanced safety-focused review approach for the NuScale Power LLC, (NuScale) SMR design. This approach has been successful in the efficient and effective review of the NuScale SMR I&C design. The restructured, safety-focused approach in Chapter 7 of the Design-Specific Review Standard (DSRS) for the NuScale SMR design [1] is a significant step forward for licensing of any future new and advanced reactor applications. Yet, the staff has learned additional insights and lessons that are important to be captured and addressed in order for the agency to be ready for future new light water or advanced non-light water reactor licensing applications. As such, the NRC staff has embarked upon a new initiative to create a performance-based/risk-informed and technology-neutral guidance for future new and advanced reactor design reviews. This paper presents the NRC staff’s initiative to modernize the NRC’s I&C regulatory infrastructure for the efficient and effective licensing of future I&C designs that account for lessons learned and ever changing I&C technologies.