NSF selects 15 finalists to advance to the next round of its second Regional Innovation Engines competition
The U.S. National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program announced 15 finalists advancing to the next stage of the program's second competition — spanning critical technologies and applications ranging from enhancing energy grid security to maximizing the yield of critical minerals mining extraction to advancing quantum computing. The finalist teams, many of whom have been building their regional coalitions for a year or longer, are led by a range of organizations, including universities, nonprofits and private industry from across the United States. View a map of the NSF Engines finalists.
"Securing America's place at the forefront of science and technology requires growing innovation capacity everywhere so that we can, in turn, aggressively accelerate the pace of development of key technologies," said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. "The NSF Engines finalists have consistently communicated their strong vision for placing their regions on the map as the national and world leaders in key technologies, demonstrating their commitment to advancing U.S. research, innovation and workforce development. We congratulate each team on making it to this stage of the competition."
The NSF Engines program is beginning to see the fruits of the nation's investment via the inaugural NSF Engines funded nearly two years ago. To date, the program has seen a tenfold return on taxpayers' dollars — an initial investment of $135 million across nine NSF Engines has garnered more than $1 billion in matching commitments from private industry, philanthropy and state and local governments. These investments are advancing technologies that maintain American competitiveness in critical areas, including advanced chipmaking, next-generation artificial intelligence, quantum computing, critical minerals, disaster preparedness and energy storage.
Of note, this cohort of finalists includes 11 NSF Engines Development Awards teams who received two-year planning grants in 2023 and early 2024 that they leveraged to help grow their coalitions and refine their visions for dynamic innovation ecosystems within their regions.
In early summer 2024, NSF received nearly 300 letters of intent (LOI) in response to the second NSF Engines funding opportunity, an initial step required to demonstrate interest in applying for the program. NSF published data from the LOIs to encourage proposers to grow their regional teams and potentially collaborate before the preliminary proposal deadline in August 2024. From the teams that submitted a preliminary proposal, NSF selected 71 to advance to the next round of competition and submit full proposals by a spring 2025 deadline. Earlier this summer, NSF selected 29 teams to advance to the next round of competition through a merit review process that engaged panels of external experts. NSF has since conducted live, virtual assessments of the semifinalist teams to better understand their regional coalitions, leadership teams and core partners, and visions for research and development as well as translation. These assessments informed the selection of the 15 finalists who are now advancing to the next round of the competition.
During the next stage, NSF will conduct in-depth, in-person interviews and due diligence with the finalist teams to further assess risks, resources and a given team's ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The role of the NSF Engines applicants’ partners will be a key component of the selection process at this stage.
Through this announcement, NSF encourages regional constituents within each finalist's region of service to consider their commitments in support of the team’s proposed activities.
NSF anticipates announcing the NSF Engines awards resulting from the current competition in early 2026.
About NSF Regional Innovation Engines
Launched by NSF TIP, the NSF Engines program is building and scaling regional innovation ecosystems nationwide. Each NSF Engine is powered by a broad coalition of private sector, regional and scientific leaders and organizations to accelerate breakthrough emerging technology R&D that drives growth and ultimately bolsters U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.