U.S. National Science Foundation announced two of the first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) as a part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
NSF will announce additional NSF Engines across the nation in the coming days.
There are ~15 applicant finalists named for this sizable funding opportunity with NSF, and only five or six awards are to be given. Two of which were just named.
One is the Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine, and the second is the North Carolina Sustainable Textiles Innovation Engine. Both are anchored in North Carolina, and each will initially receive up to $15 million for two years and up to $160 million over 10 years.
The NSF Engines represent one of the single largest broad investments in place-based research and development in the nation’s history – uniquely placing science and technology leadership as the central driver for regional economic competitiveness.
The announcement delivers on the bipartisan priorities outlined in the “CHIPS and Science Act of 2022,” which authorized the NSF Engines program. Launched in May 2022, the NSF Engines program uniquely harnesses the nation’s science and technology research and development enterprise and regional-level resources.
The program accomplishes this by funding regional coalitions of partnering organizations to establish NSF Engines that will catalyze technology and science-based regional innovation ecosystems.
The initial two years of funding will support a ramp-up period. Continued support for the Engine will be contingent upon the Engine’s overall performance based on a comprehensive assessment of the Engine’s performance, which will inform subsequent-year funding.
More information will be available soon on the NSF Engines program website.
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