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NSF Recommends Funding For 24 Partnerships to Foster Local Innovation

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has recommended awards for 24 projects in communities around the country to help translate knowledge gained from basic research into new products, businesses and services, as well as to provide workforce education and training opportunities focused on innovation.

The recommended Partnerships For Innovation (PFI) awards cover projects in 20 states and Puerto Rico, total more than $14 million, each averaging about $600,000 over two or three years.

The PFI program, new this year, helps build creative interactions in local communities between colleges and universities, government agencies, foundations and private corporations. Each partnership is tailored to help a specific community better position itself to accommodate research and development at the local and regional level, with the goal of advancing local economic and educational opportunities.

Some projects focus on innovation in specific areas, from advanced composite materials for highways and deep space flight engines to healing techniques and therapies for medical use. Other projects are designed to assist communities in developing the educational, cultural and physical infrastructure necessary to take advantage of science and engineering research and ideas and build on them to create economic and societal benefit.

"These awards allow NSF to extend its reach to people, organizations, and communities who have never before had the opportunity to work with us," says Rita Colwell, NSF director. "We will need this kind of broad participation in many communities in order to compete in the global economy."

"I strongly support the Partnerships for Innovation program," said Christopher S. Kit Bond, (R-MO.) chairman of the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. "It is important that we reach out to all corners of the United States in our search for the answers to tomorrow's technological challenges."

"From previous experience, we are well aware of the empowering nature of partnerships," said Joseph Bordogna, deputy director of NSF. "We are hopeful that these PFI projects can serve as models to help communities across the country find new ways to benefit from their knowledge, expertise, and creativity."

John Hurt, NSF program manager for PFI, says the program acts as a catalyst in helping communities transform new knowledge into innovations that not only create opportunities for new wealth, but build strong local, regional and national economies and improve the national well-being.

Principal partners in the recommended award PFI partnerships are: Tuskegee University, Ala.; Ilisagvik College, Alaska; Arizona State University; University of Arkansas; California Institute of Technology; University of Idaho; Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis; Morgan State University, MD; University of Missouri-Kansas City; University of Massachusetts Amherst; Rutgers University, N.J.; Rochester Institute of Technology, N.Y.; North Carolina A&T State University; University of North Carolina System; University of Central Oklahoma; Pennsylvania State University; University of Puerto Rico; South Dakota State University; Fisk University, Tenn.; Tennessee Technological University; Texas A&M University; University of Texas-Pan American; Virginia Polytechnic Institute; and West Virginia University.

Attachment: Partnerships For Innovation (PFI) Awards for 2000

Attachment

Partnerships For Innovation (PFI) Awards for 2000