BATON ROUGE – The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Authority has awarded a grant to the LSU Industrial Innovation Center, or LSU-IIC, to support technological advances in the chemical manufacturing industry. LSU was one of 34 organizations across the country to receive this competitive award. More than 215 institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations and entrepreneurship-focused organizations applied.
“As America’s Innovation Agency, the Commerce Department has a key role to play in supporting the visionaries and job creators of tomorrow. Congratulations to today’s awardees who will make U.S. communities, businesses and the workforce more globally competitive,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
Louisiana is known internationally for its chemical manufacturing. The “chemical corridor” spanning 200 miles from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and Lake Charles is home to hundreds of chemical manufacturing facilities and refineries. It is one of 24 manufacturing communities designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce under the “Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership,” or IMCP, initiative. The $498,624 award through the Regional Innovation Strategies, or RIS, program will support innovation in this multibillion dollar industry.
“Our proposed innovation approach is to work with our industrial partners including plant operators and industrial contractors. The LSU-IIC will work with them to identify their technological needs and then match them up with an innovator to develop the technology. We are so excited that the EDA is providing us with this wonderful opportunity to implement our plan over the next three years,” said Jonathan Shi, the Art E. Favre Endowed Chair in Industrial Construction at LSU.
The LSU-IIC will leverage existing industrial partnerships established through the Louisiana Chemical Manufacturing Initiative, or LCMI, which is comprised of more than 90 local partners representing stakeholders from different sectors of Louisiana’s chemical manufacturing industry. It will also utilize and expand the innovation resources available at the LSU Innovation Park and Louisiana Business and Technology Center.
“This grant will allow LSU to develop mechanisms to capitalize on the interactions with private sector engineering and other industrial sectors. It will foster technological advancements in mature industries that will stimulate productivity and economic impact. The end result will employ new creative thoughts to game-changing technologies that benefit society,” said Charles F. D’Agostino, executive director of LSU Innovation Park and co-investigator of the application.
“LSU is committed to work with Louisiana-based industrial partners to enhance state-wide economic development efforts,” said Gus Kousoulas, associate vice president for research and economic development.
The RIS grants, broken into two categories — the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support, or SFS, Grants — were awarded to:
Seed Fund Support Investments
- CalCEF Ventures, California Clean Energy Fund, San Francisco, Calif. – $250,000
- Investor’s Circle, Colorado Seed-Stage Impact Fund, Durham, N.C. – $250,000
- Launch New York, Mentorship-Driven Seed Fund, Buffalo, N.Y. – $245,460
- Research Park Corporation, Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator, Baton Rouge, La. – $250,000
- Propeller Social Impact Equity Fund, New Orleans, La. – $250,000
- Telluride Foundation, Telluride, Colo. – $150,000
- University of South Florida, Seed Tampa Bay, Tampa, Fla. – $150,000
- University of Texas, Gender Lens Impact Fund, Austin, Texas – $250,000
i6 Challenge Investments
- AZ Board of Regents, RISN Incubator, Tempe, Ariz. – $500,000
- Cal State LA University Auxiliary Services, LABioStart Boot Camp, Los Angeles, Calif. – $499,087
- California State University Fresno Foundation, Central Valley Regional Energy Innovation Accelerator, Fresno, Calif. – $500,000
- Clark Atlanta University, Clark Russell Entrepreneurship and Technology Ecosystem (CREATE), Atlanta, Ga. – $432,335
- Composite Technology Recycling Center, Recycled Carbon Fiber Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator, Port Angeles, Wash. – $500,000
- East Carolina University, Proof-of-Concept Project, Greenville, N.C. – $498,443
- First Flight Venture Center, Hanger6, Durham, N.C. – $441,000
- i2E Inc, Venture Assessment Program, Oklahoma City, Okla. – $199,749
- Idea Foundry, Advance Life Sciences Commercialization Project, Pittsburgh, Pa. – $500,000
- Lorain County Community College, Northeast Ohio Regional Acceleration in Digital Innovation (NEO ReADI), Elyria, Ohio – $499,999
- Louisiana State University and A&M College, Louisiana State University Industrial Innovation Center (LSU-IIC), Baton Rouge, La. – $498,624
- Metro North Regional Employment Board, Form to Factory Advanced Manufacturing Project, Cambridge, Mass. – $500,000
- mHUB, Catalyze Chicago, Chicago, Ill. – $500,000
- Mohawk Valley Community College, Upstate Innovation Accelerator, Utica, N.Y. – $499,500
- Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, Brooklyn, N.Y. – $486,680
- Regents of the University of California, Riverside Proof of Concept Center, Riverside, Calif. – $499,950
- Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Regional SBIR/STTR Mentorship Program, Stony Brook, N.Y. – $500,000
- Rutgers University, Ecolgnite: Clean Energy Proof of Concept Center and Accelerator Program, Piscataway, N.J. – $439,190
- Southern Research Institute, Alliance for Innovative Medical Technology Proof of Concept Center, Birmingham, Ala. – $500,000
- StartingBlock Madison, Fitchburg, Wis. – $471,875
- University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., New Materials Innovation Center, Athens, Ga.- $499,635
- University of Pittsburgh, Manufacturing Accelerator Program, Pittsburgh, Pa. – $500,000
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center, The UTHSC Proof of Concept Center, Memphis, Tenn. – $499,885
- University of Texas at Austin, Texas Smart Water Innovation Cluster, Austin, Texas – $500,000
- University of Texas at San Antonio, The South-Texas Innovation Partnership Program (S-TIPP), San Antonio, Texas – $499,997
- University of Toledo, The University of Toledo Rocket Fuel Fund, Toledo, Ohio – $500,000
- WERX Foundation, McKinney, Texas – $345,895
Contact Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3870
asatake@lsu.edu
John Atwood
U.S. Department of Commerce
Office of Public Affairs
202-482-4883
publicaffairs@doc.gov
See more at: http://www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2016/11/16lbtc_eda.php#sthash.vjFL2oDF.dpuf