The National Science Foundation has awarded $43 million in grants to 44 teams under the Regional Innovation Engines program.
With a goal of boosting innovation at the local level, the NSF Engines program primarily focuses on regions that have fallen behind in the technology boom, NSF said Thursday.
“Through these planning awards, NSF is seeding the future for in-place innovation in communities and to grow their regional economies through research and partnerships,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan remarked.
“This will unleash ideas, talent, pathways and resources to create vibrant innovation ecosystems all across our nation,” said Panchanathan.
The program is divided into two types of awards, the first of which will award up to $1 million for a period of up to two years.
Selected teams from universities, businesses, nonprofits and other organizations will then have the allotted time to establish a local innovation ecosystem that could evolve into an NSF Engine. Chosen finalists will be eligible for the second type of award: a potential $160 million grant.
The projects are scattered across the U.S. as well as in Puerto Rico. The foundation is scheduled to announce Type 2 awards this fall.
