Multiagency Initiative to Create Energy-Related Regional Innovation Cluster

Posted by: Mark Marich on February 15, 2010 Source: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Seven federal agencies will work together to leverage funding and resources to promote regional growth through an Energy Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC).

The E-RIC will work to disseminate new technologies into the local marketplace and share best practices with the public and private sectors. The cluster will be centered on an Energy Innovation Hub that will bring together a multidisciplinary team of researchers, ideally working under one roof, to conduct research and work to solve priority technology challenges that span work from basic research to engineering development to commercialization readiness.

The agencies joining the effort are the Department of Energy, the Small Business Administration, the National Science Foundation, the Departments of Labor and Education, and the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration and Manufacturing Extension Partnership. The seven federal agencies issued a combined Funding Opportunity Announcement of up to $129.7 million over five years to create the regional research center.

According to the Science Progress’ Ed Parsley, the key feature of this proposal is that these seven federal agencies will seek bids from regional economies around the country, requiring a “bottom up” self-organizing effort by states and localities, universities and federal research labs, workforce development agencies and the private sector. This feature was one of the key recommendations in “The Geography of Innovation” report. “Capitalizing on our country’s unique regional science and technology strengths, entrepreneurial flair and strong work ethic, targeted federal funds will help these regional clusters self organize and compete on a global scale,” wrote Parsley, one of the authors of that report.

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