Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces Innovation Engines Awards

Today, the White House announced the 10 U.S. regions that are emerging as innovation ecosystems and receiving over $530 million of investment catalyzed by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines program. The Biden-Harris Administration is awarding the 10 NSF Regional Innovation Engines with $150 million ($15 million each) in federal investment, with over $365 million in matched contributions from non-federal partners. Over the next decade, these 10 NSF Regional Innovation Engines will be eligible to receive upwards of $2 billion, with a goal of stimulating economic growth across various sectors. These sectors include semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy, sustainable textiles, climate-resilient agriculture, regenerative medicine, and more. The NSF Regional Innovation Engines program was authorized by the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, part of President Biden’s Bidenomics agenda to grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, and signed into law in August 2022.

First Lady Jill Biden and Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation Sethuraman Panchanathan visited Forsyth Technical Community College on Friday to announce two NSF Regional Innovation Engine awardees in North Carolina, focused on textile manufacturing and regenerative medicine innovation.

The 10 NSF Regional Innovation Engines aim to build new industries and workforces based on regions’ scientific and technological strengths. This will create more opportunities for Americans to participate in the 21^st-century economy without having to leave their communities. The program brings together private industry, venture capital, state and local governments, institutions of higher education, labor unions, Tribal communities, and nonprofit organizations to transform their communities and regions over the next decade. President Biden’s economic vision is to support regional economies, bring communities together to tackle economic and science challenges, and bolster industries of the future.

Since President Biden took office, private companies have announced over $640 billion in clean energy and manufacturing investments. These investments include over $230 billion in semiconductor manufacturing, $150 billion in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing, $75 billion in clean energy manufacturing, and $20 billion in biomanufacturing – all sectors represented by the NSF Regional Innovation Engines announced today. These investments aim to position U.S. businesses and workers to outcompete the world in the economy of tomorrow and strengthen national and economic security.

NSF Regional Innovation Engine Awardees:

• The Central Florida Semiconductor Innovation Engine will build a next-generation semiconductor technology innovation ecosystem to maintain America’s competitive advantage in semiconductor advanced packaging.
• The Great Lakes Water Innovation Engine will develop smart water recovery systems to save water and make the region’s manufacturing industries more sustainable.
• The Louisiana Energy Transition Engine will advance technologies critical to the energy transition.
• The North Carolina Sustainable Textiles Innovation Engine will revolutionize the textile industry.
• The North Dakota Advanced Agriculture Technology Engine will reinvent the way the nation is fed with advanced crop data, genetic data, climate modeling and sensor technologies.
• The Paso del Norte Defense and Aerospace Innovation Engine will bolster America’s competitiveness and national security.
• The Piedmont Triad Regenerative Medicine Engine will scale breakthrough clinical therapies.
• The Colorado–Wyoming Climate Resilience Engine will develop advanced methods to monitor and predict methane emissions, soil carbon capture, wildfires, and more.
• The Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine will deploy new solutions to extreme regional dryness and heat, enabling equitable water and energy access.
• The Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine will accelerate advanced energy storage technologies.

The NSF is also inviting 15 other teams to pursue NSF Regional Innovation Engine Development Awards, adding to the set of 44 such awards announced in May 2023, to seed communities that will grow their region’s economies through research and partnership and compete for future rounds of the program.

The program represents the diversity and potential of America, selected from more than 120 applications spanning nearly every U.S. state and territory. It will deliver the benefits and opportunities of scientific and technological innovation to communities across the country, with nearly all significantly benefitting small and rural areas and directly supporting historically underserved communities.

Supporting NSF Regional Innovation Engines Through an All-of-Government Strategy

The Biden-Harris Administration is bringing the full resources of the federal government to identify and provide funding, technical assistance, and planning for the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program. This includes partnerships with agencies like the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the Department of Labor, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and more to ensure successful implementation and support of the program across various sectors.

For more information, you can visit The White House.