NSF PR 01-88 - October 31, 2001

Media contact:

Bill Noxon

(703) 292-8070

[email protected]

Program contact:

John Hurt

(703) 292-5332

[email protected]

NSF Invests in a Second Year of Grants to Foster Community Innovation

A National Science Foundation (NSF) program to foster significant public/private partnerships and help better position local communities to accommodate new and enhanced research and development will continue into a second year.

The $14 million in grants awarded last year under NSF's Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) have been supplemented with over $7 million for 12 new grants in 2001 to cover projects in 11 states involving more than 150 partner organizations.

"As we continue our efforts to link the broad-based scientific and engineering knowledge gained through basic research with the talent that exists in local communities to build a stronger economic base and workforce, we will tap new sources of innovative ideas," said Rita Colwell, NSF director. "These ideas will be translated into new businesses, products, services and educational programs - and will solidify our country's leading role in innovation."

The twelve lead institutions receiving new PFI awards include: Case Western Reserve, Cleveland; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; the universities of Maine, Southern Mississippi, Southern California, Pennsylvania and South Dakota; Montana Tech; Michigan Technological University; and Montana State, Northwestern and Wichita State universities. All are receiving an average of $600,000 over the next two to three years. The lead institutions are selected to act as catalysts in helping their surrounding communities transform research-based knowledge into innovations that create opportunities for new wealth and a broader economic base that benefit communities and the nation at large.

"NSF expects a lot from these institutions," says John Hurt, PFI program manager. "In addition to proposing significant activities and partnership arrangements, the lead universities must develop a concept for the kinds of innovation to be accomplished, and the potential economic and societal impact."

Examples of innovation that the grants are meant to foster might involve development of advanced new technologies to boost local economic growth. A university may serve as the research base, then incorporate its results into the corporate arena through knowledge and technology transfer. Corporate partners may develop the industrial processes for the innovation or product. Local governments or other non-profit activities may become a third leg in the partnership process by creating the climate for new businesses or funding the marketing of the product or innovation.

Innovation may also involve the spreading of knowledge through internships for high school students, undergraduate degree programs or research opportunities that provide local existing industries and economies a boost by enhancing the work force in number and in its knowledge and competencies.

"Talent exists in all corners of our great country, and these Partnerships for Innovation will help us continue to exploit and develop those talents," Hurt concluded.

Attachment: PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION - 2001

Attachment

PARTNERSHIPS FOR INNOVATION - 2001

Case Western Reserve University - 3 years
Project will provide internships for local high school students, academic degree programs for undergraduates, internships for postgraduates as part of the master's degree program, student research activities in bioengineering or biomedical design to include a business plan for product commercialization and technology transfer.
Partners: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Inc., KAL Equity Capital Fund, Metro Health Medical Center, Nortech-Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition, Ohio Innovation Fund, Seven Roien Funds, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Edison Biotechnology, Inc., CID Equity Partners, Enterprise Development Inc.

Michigan Technological University - 3 years
Project will couple technology transfer and sponsored research programs, create an on-line database of inventory of knowledge assets at the academic institutions, and manage and share knowledge assets through internal collaborative relationships among partners.
Partners: North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NASA, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Upstate Alliance for Innovation (NY), and the North Carolina Technological Development Authority.

Montana State University - 2 years
Project will develop new optical technology and incorporate it into various operational optical communications and computing systems. Montana State will do fundamental research. Partner companies will help develop and fabricate products. Not-for-profit organizations will ensure a pro-business climate for establishment of new small and medium-sized companies. State funding will help in product commercialization.
Partners: AdvR, Intc., Tektronix, Inc., Scientific Materials Corp., IBM Almaden Research Center, ILX Lightwave Corp., MSU Techlink Center, Gallatin Development Corp., and Montana Board of Research and Commercialization Technology.

Montana Tech - 2 years
Project will develop systems through which educational resources can be rapidly deployed to the widely distributed population of Montana, develop on-line courses in concurrent engineering and collaborative commerce and advance the state-of-the-art in collaborative methodologies.
Partners: Montana Dept. of Commerce, Montana State University-Northern, Structural Dynamics Research Corp., PFM Manufacturing, S&K Electronics, Lincoln Electric Company

Northwestern University - 3 years
Project aims to forge an effective partnership within the intermodal freight industry in Chicago through interdependent research, in-depth analyses of past, current and future trends of the intermodal freight industry and promoting the use of decision support tools through educational programs for the partners.
Partners: University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Urban Transportation Center, Chicago Area Transportation Study, City of Chicago, Metropolitan Planning Council, Business Leaders for Transportation, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company, Union Pacific Railway Company, Central States Trucking Company, and Roadway Express.

Wichita State University - 3 years
Project will use integrated virtual reality models of manufacturing systems to design, improve and operate the manufacturing systems, and teach the workforce (new graduates as well as current industry personnel) by integrating the curricula of the industrial engineering and manufacturing engineering programs at Wichita State University with real-world experience in manufacturing systems, and transfer of the computer modeling tools to industry.
Partners: Boeing, Cessna and Raytheon Aircraft Companies, Brittain Machine Inc., Delmia Corporation, Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

University of Alaska, Anchorage - 3 years
Project will bring computer technology to remote communities, provide high school students with a vision of a career in science and engineering, connect students with professionals in industry and academia, provide industrial partners with a technologically trained workforce, and develop the enabling infrastructure necessary to sustain the effort long-term.
Partners: The Universities of Alaska-Fairbanks, Hawaii-Manoa and Washington, Ford Motor Co., Jet Propulsion Laboratory, The Boeing Co., Kimberly Clark, Alcoa, IBM Kirkland-Washington, Bureau of Reclamation, Microsoft, Flour Daniel, Alaska Technical Center, Northwest Arctic Borough School District, White Swan High School, Confederate Bands and Tribes of the Yakama Nation, NANA/DOWL Engineers, and NANA/Colt Engineers.

University of Maine - 3 years
Project will strengthen partnerships among the University of Maine, private industry, state organizations, forest product industry organizations and national laboratories to foster commercialization of composite reinforced wood and to develop innovative strategies for commercializing composite reinforced wood hybrids that can become models for other university research centers.
Partners: Maine Technology Institute, Eastern Maine Development Corp., State Department of Economic and Community Development, The Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Maine Department of Transportation, Louisiana Pacific, Dow Chemical, State Farm Insurance, Henderson and Bodwell, The Kenway Corp., Market Development Alliance of the FRP Composites Industry, APA the Engineered Wood Association, National Institutes of Standards and Technology, USDA Forest Products Laboratory.

University of Pennsylvania- 3 years
Project will provide the infrastructure, curriculum development, teacher training and curriculum implementation for associates degree programs in nano- and nano-biotechnology by building an infrastructure that will leverage the power of high bandwidth communications for regional virtual classrooms and tel-experimentation. Includes outreach to high schools.
Partners: Drexel University, the Collegiate Consortium, HUBS (Hospitals, Universities, Businesses, Schools), MAGPI (Metropolitan Area GifaPop in Philadelphia for Internet2), Bucks County Community College, Delaware County CC, Montgomery County CC, the CC of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, Camden County CC in New Jersey, Delaware Technical CC in Delaware, Hartford CC in Maryland, SAIC through HUBS, Centocor, Cephalon, Sunthes, Life Sensors, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Ben Franklin Technology Partners.

University of South Dakota - 3 years
Project includes creating a series of technology entrepreneurship education modules, modifying several existing business and entrepreneurship undergraduate and graduate courses to focus on technology and R&D businesses, and integrating university and private sector partners into technology evaluation and development teams to move innovations and technologies to market.
Partners: Black Hills State University, Dakota State University, Northern State University, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, South Dakota State University, South Dakota Board of Regents, Forward Sioux Falls, Rapid City Economic Development, Genesis of Innovation for South Dakota, Genesis Equity Fund, LLC, Small Business High Technology Institute, South Dakota Health Research Foundation, Dairean, Inc., Pacer Corporation, South Dakota Health Technology Innovations, TJ Technologies, Inc.

University of Southern California - 2 years
Project proposes to create and implement a national Technology Transfer and Commercialization Network. The activity will provide private sector partners that supply needed technology, financial and legal expertise; national labs, state and local governments that will assist in evaluating the program; and academic partners that supply vital content and structure to allow the partners and their clients to be successful innovators.
Partners: California State University - Fresno, Caltech, Claremont Graduate University, University of Arkansas, University of Nevada-Reno, University of Pittsburgh, NASA Ames, California Technology Trade and Commerce, LA Economic Development Corporation, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Niagara Broadband, and National Collegiate Innovators and Inventors Alliance.

University of Southern Mississippi - 2 years
Project aims to develop a mechanism capable of translating polymer science and engineering discoveries to commercialization through development of new companies, and retention and enhancement of existing companies. Partners will develop, promote and sustain an accessible infrastructure for innovation and design and implement educational programs leading to the increase of the regional work force.
Partners: Petal High School, Jones Junior College, Pearl River Community College, Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development, Mississippi Technology Alliance, Mississippi Technology Incorporated, Mississippi Center for Community and Economic Development, Area Development Partnership, Mississippi Polymer Institute, Office of Naval Research Laboratories, Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service, National Institute of Science and Technology, John C. Stennis NASA Space Center, Bayer, Inc., Rohm and Haas, J.M. Huber, Eastman Chemical Company.


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