Jackson State University &  The University of Southern Mississippi awarded NSF Engines Grant

Jackson State University (JSU), serving as the lead, and the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) have secured the much-coveted $1 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Engines Development Award. Also referred to as the Sustainable Innovation Ecosystem (SIE) Food Industry Engine Development Award, the NSF Engines Grant has an award period of two years.

The NSF Engines Grant Award allows JSU and USM to work on “Advancing food security and climate resilience” with an extensive focus on developing a modern and innovative ecosystem for addressing diverse concerns. Besides working on improving health and nutrition, the joint collaborators will also innovate to reduce poverty and create a talent pool comprising of diverse technical workers. The teams will concentrate on enhancing “economic diversity and resilience” across the targeted 41 county region.

The NSF Engines Grant Award allows JSU and USM to work on “Advancing food security and climate resilience” with an extensive focus on developing a modern and innovative ecosystem for addressing diverse concerns.

The Award is part of the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program, which is a new initiative from the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP).

An overview of the NSF Regional Innovation Engines program

The NSF Regional Innovation Engines program fosters innovation ecosystems across regions in the United States. The goal is to address societal and national challenges while expanding the focus on developing critical technologies, including biotechnology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and advanced wireless. The NSF Engines Development Award is also designed to cultivate and foster partnerships between nonprofits, governments, academia, and civil societies.

Through grants and encouragement to partnering universities, NSF Engines Development Awards also intends to promote the creation of jobs and stimulate economic growth. The program will promote the growth and sustenance of regional innovation.

JSU and USM  have teamed up for promoting research and development to address food security concerns in Mississippi, with a dedicated emphasis on food affordability, accessibility, availability, acceptability, and accommodation.

“Ending Hunger, Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity, and Reducing Diet-Related Diseases and Disparities”

The White House released its strategic plan for addressing concerns related to food insecurity and diet-related diseases in 2022. The Sustainable Innovation Ecosystem (SIE) Food Industry Development Award intends to address all the major five pillars of the plan, which include – improving food access & availability, integrating nutrition and health, empowering Americans to make better healthy choices, supporting physical activities for people of all age groups, and enhancing Nutrition and Food Security Research.

Food Insecurity in Mississippi

Mississippi remains the most food-insecure state in the US and available data shows that the poor nutritional health of Mississippians is largely due to food insecurity. The state is also home to some of the most economically challenged counties in the country, with 25 counties being listed for persistent poverty.  According to the website of feedingamerica.org, 1 in 6 people in Mississippi face hunger, and these numbers are worse than all other states in the country. The food insecurity rate in Issaquena County in the state, for instance, stands at 40%.

1 in 6 people in Mississippi face hunger, and these numbers are worse than all other states in the country. The food insecurity rate in Issaquena County in the state, for instance, stands at 40%.

While the SIE Food Industry Development Award will be directed towards improving health outcomes, at the same time, the researchers and collaborators will also look for new ways to create high-quality jobs to address economic concerns in the state. The Award is expected to advance economic equity and improve workforce investment by focusing on small businesses and clustering targeted firms.

Accelerating research and innovation-based startup economy

The engine development award funding will provide JSU and USM and JSU to expand and support innovation and create job opportunities in Mississippi with a direct focus on addressing the issue of supplying “healthy, safe, sustainable food” to the masses amidst evolving environmental conditions. The collaboration will strengthen Mississippi’s ability to address climate resiliency and related natural and anthropogenic disasters.

Building a digital innovation ecosystem to accelerate the growth of food security & climate resilience startups

USM is using StartupWind’s Unified Innovation & Mentoring platform to build a digital innovation ecosystem for their region with JSU partnering in this effort. With limited resources to create a knowledge-based economy in the state the StartupWind Innovation & Mentoring platform, with its tools, frameworks, and courses makes it easy to create and offer across-the-state startup programs like accelerators, incubators, small business academies, grant programs, challenges, and mentoring programs.

USM is using StartupWind’s Unified Innovation & Mentoring platform to build a digital innovation ecosystem for their region with JSU partnering in this effort.

With StartupWInd, universities such as USM and JSU run:

• grant programs for researchers from intake to judging to selection
• SBIR/STTR readiness programs to bring significant research grants to the startups in your region
• NSF I-Corps programs to help researchers conduct customer discovery to find the best path for commercialization
• focused accelerators based on the stage and industry of the ventures, including food tech
• incubation programs for early-stage ventures to help them develop their ideas into viable business plans
• Challenges to foster a culture of innovation
• Mentoring programs to connect startups with successful mentors for experiential advice

Brian Cuevas, Director, Office of Innovation Management said about how StartupWind is a key ingredient in building a powerful innovation ecosystem:

“We chose StartupWind because it offers a single unified solution for our innovation & entrepreneurship program needs. 

In addition to over 40 video-based courses, StartupWind provides a versatile platform with tools for ideation, customer discovery, business model canvas, business planning, and mentoring, competitions & grant programs in a single intuitive platform.

StartupWind has enabled us to create a digital innovation ecosystem and run multiple programs, such as a; Pre-Concept Fund; Pitch Competition, Incubator, and SBIR/STTR readiness programs among others. 

Along with the rich platform, StartupWind’s team has provided us excellent support and I would recommend StartupWind to any University Innovation & Entrepreneurship department.”

A digital Innovation Platform has been a key ingredient for the ecosystem being built by USM and JSU.

Are you ready to build a powerful digital innovation ecosystem for your university and region?

Call StartupWind NOW for a consultation and unlock the best practices we learned by working with over 50 innovation and economic development programs.