NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing water and energy technologies for the manufacturing and utilities sectors (WI, IL)

Milwaukee 7 Water Council, Milwaukee WI

Investigators

Abstract

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on facilitating the solutions manufacturers and utilities need to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change through water and energy innovation and quickly scaling those solutions for wider use by industry, government, and other stakeholders in the United States and across the world. The primary geographic area includes eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois from Milwaukee west to Madison and from Chicagoland north to the Fox Valley and Green Bay. Eastern Wisconsin has a strong reputation for manufacturing, innovation, and academic research excellence. The region's companies, utilities, and researchers have long focused on solutions to manage better, measure or store water and energy. To retain Wisconsin's value as the top manufacturing workforce in the nation, its industries must be equipped with the water and energy solutions they will need to address the material risks posed by climate change. The main partners in this project are The Water Council, MKE Tech Hub Coalition, Wisconsin Technology Council, Marquette University, Madison Region Economic Partnership and Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity. The project will build on existing ecosystems of partners and stakeholders, particularly concerning water technology and energy efficiency, to create a larger, more effective ecosystem continuously focused on developing better solutions and getting them to market. The Engine will map existing use-inspired research efforts at the university level, including NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers and university licensing groups, and within the private sector to coordinate and strengthen efforts. It will also work with manufacturers and utilities to determine energy- and water-related needs not currently in the research pipeline. The team will leverage the existing investor/angel network in Wisconsin and work to identify other investors with an appetite for supporting climate resiliency solutions. Finally, it will include an inclusive plan, especially targeting racial diversity, for growing a world-class talent pipeline to foster climate resiliency technologies, including enhanced STEM education and nontraditional re/upskilling of the incumbent workforce. The Development Award will allow the Engine to build a unified, integrated, and comprehensive water and energy resiliency engine plan ready for immediate implementation encompassing the identification of critical use-inspired research, workforce, and DEIA initiatives, private-sector angel and venture investors, start-up maturity resources, private sector use-inspired research commitments, significant financial public sector commitments supporting the project, and the necessary experience and skills required by senior leadership. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.