Fact of the Week: NSF Will Invest Over $43 Million in 44 Regional Innovation Engines Teams

Source: “NSF invests more than $43 million in NSF Regional Innovation Engines Development Awards,” National Science Foundation, May 11, 2023.

Commentary: Last week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced its first-ever NSF Regional Innovation Engines program awards to 44 teams in academia, industry, and non-profit organizations across the United States. Each team will receive up to $1 million for two years to “create connections and develop their local innovation ecosystem” to become a future NSF Engine, which would mean the opportunity to receive up to $160 million from the NSF in the future.

Launched by NSF’s new Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships and authorized under last year’s CHIPS and Science Act, the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program aims to use the benefits of clustering to help lagging regions of the country become greater contributors to the innovation economy. As such, most of the awards will be received by teams in the South and Midwest, particularly in states like Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, each of which has more than one research team set to receive an award.