Case Study: Framing a Regional Innovation Engine
Goal:
An eleven-university consortium, led by the University of Vermont and consisting of research one institutions across the Northeast U.S. spanning Maine to eastern New York, planned to submit a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for funding to create a Regional Innovation Engine (RIE). Although in conversation for several months about how to partner to pursue the RIE funding, the consortium found itself in need of external assistance to coalesce their ideas and frame their proposal to create a clean energy economy in the Northeast.
Challenge:
Although the consortium, Northeast Carbon Zero (NEC0), benefitted from a great deal of expertise – in various disciplines associated with energy technology and related social sciences – they faced challenges associated with a large geography and many partners. In addition to the 11 universities, numerous other complementary partners were courted to join NEC0. Importantly, NSF called for grant proposals to have a regional impact that was transformative technically, economically, and socially. NEC0 partners had limited experience at pointing university research capacity at regional transformation.
Solution:
The keys to moving the NEC0 consortium forward with a proposal concept centered broadly around three sets of work: assessment & brainstorming, framing possibilities, and concept synthesis. The first activity, assessment and brainstorming, focused on understanding and mapping Partners’ primary assets and brainstorming theories of change. The second activity, framing possibilities, provided consortium members with framework concept options and framework component choices. The third activity, concept synthesis, involved working with key faculty members to synthesize framework choices into a concept that met both academic and economic development objectives within the NSF RIE proposal guidelines.
Outcomes and Impacts:
The NEC0 consortium was able to successfully draft and submit a Regional Innovation Engines proposal. The partnership discussions leading up to proposal submission positioned the consortium to not only move forward with their concept (preferably with an NSF award) but also to jointly pursue other regional innovation grants.