On Tuesday, the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines program announced that the BRIDGES Engine proposal has advanced as a semifinalist in the program. The BRIDGES Engine is led by the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, with co-leads at Auburn University and the University of Tennessee.
Of the more than 300 entries that began the process, the National Science Foundation (NSF) selected 29 teams to advance to the next round of the competition. Projects in the NSF Engines program span critical technologies and applications ranging from energy grid security to maximizing the yield of critical minerals mining to advanced optical sensors. The semifinalists are led by universities, nonprofits, private industry and other organizations from across the United States.
The BRIDGES Leadership Team has been building a growing regional coalition for over two years. BRIDGES seeks to revitalize rural economies across the southeastern U.S. by growing specially developed agricultural grasses on low productivity farmland and transforming them into high-demand products, such as compostable packaging, car parts and construction materials.
“Our team is proud to have earned its way to this stage in the award process,” said Sam Jackson, PhD, HudsonAlpha’s director for the BRIDGES Engine. “This announcement is confirmation that the reviewers and the NSF recognize the potential and value of the BRIDGES Engine. We’re fortunate to have so many strong partners across industry, research and communities in the region, and we look forward to continuing through this process with their support. Our proposed Engine has a tremendous potential for creating lasting economic impact across the region.”
The BRIDGES Engine seeks to create economic impact in rural communities by jumpstarting biomanufacturing from agricultural materials in key sectors like automotive, construction materials, and packaging, building new industries, creating high-quality jobs and unlocking new revenue streams for farmers and local communities.
During the next stage, NSF will conduct live, virtual assessments of the semifinalists to gain further understanding of their regional coalitions, the alignment of their proposed leadership teams and core partners, and their visions for research and development and translation. NSF anticipates announcing the final list of NSF Engines awards in early 2026.
“This outstanding cohort of semifinalists clearly demonstrates that America’s technology competitiveness will depend as much on expanding our ability to unlock innovation capacity in every part of our country — from the rural plains and western ranges to cities with rich industrial and manufacturing legacies — as it will on advancing the technologies themselves,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP). “Each team was selected because it brought strong public and private partners to the table and outlined a promising vision for research, innovation and workforce development in their respective regions of service, thereby advancing U.S competitiveness, national security and economic growth.”
To date, the NSF Engines program has seen a tenfold return on taxpayers’ dollars — an initial investment of $135 million across nine NSF Engines has garnered more than $1 billion in matching commitments from private industry, philanthropy and state and local governments.
Now this second wave of NSF Engines will soon follow the initial investments, shoring up innovation ecosystems in new regions across the U.S. The NSF Engines are intended to help ensure the U.S. remains globally competitive in key technology areas for decades to come.
Learn more about the BRIDGES Engine program: https://www.bridgesengine.org. View a map of the NSF Engines semifinalists.
About HudsonAlpha
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the human condition around the globe through discovery, education, and economic development in the genomic sciences. HudsonAlpha’s mission is to develop and apply scientific advances to health, agriculture, education and commercialization. The campus includes nearly 50 biotech companies and consists of 152 acres located within Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the nation. To learn more about HudsonAlpha, visit hudsonalpha.org.
About NSF Regional Innovation Engines
Launched by NSF TIP, the NSF Engines program is building and scaling regional innovation ecosystems nationwide. Each NSF Engine is powered by a broad coalition of private sector, regional and scientific leaders and organizations to accelerate breakthrough emerging technology R&D that drives growth and ultimately bolsters U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.
