Iowa NASA EPSCoR Economic Development (INEED) - Augmentation FY20-FY21

The Iowa NASA EPSCoR Economic Development (INEED) program is focused on building core strengths needed to grow competitive research and technology development capabilities that address scientific and technical problems of importance, as defined by NASA. This is coordinated with the Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) programs that feed candidates into the research programs within the INE effort. The Research Infrastructure Development (RID) proposal within the INEED focuses on: a) collaborative ventures between the state’s researchers and NASA researchers at the NASA field centers or headquarters, b) initiation of competitive research and technology development methods and activities, collaborations, publications, c) cultivate a cadre of researchers that have a working knowledge of NASA programs and research goals that are capable of responding to and d) development of a cadre of researchers working long-term, self-sustaining, nationally-competitive capabilities in aerospace and aerospace-related research, e) support of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s efforts to strengthen the Iowa economy. The INEED director and associate director will provide leadership for INEED, and already have a demonstrated capacity to organize and support researchers in service of the NASA mission, as they are also the ISGC director and associate directors. ISGC has twenty affiliates including the four academic core institution affiliates. ISGC has four governmental partner organizations that support various activities when the interests of the organizations align (request to add the Iowa Economic Development Authority as an affiliate has been submitted in connection with this proposal). The number of for-profit industrial affiliates varies as the activities of the ISGC align with the interests of a company. At present there are four industrial affiliates. This proposal focuses on leveraging the ISGC Network and administrative team to promote more NASA-focused research in these Iowa institutions. The overall goals of this INEED program are to build and grow functional relationships between Iowa researchers and the NASA Centers and their research personnel to foster development of joint research projects and ultimately move the state's researchers up to the next level of competitiveness in NASA related research areas. These goals are foundational to serve Iowa’s economic development through STEM research that can transfer to business and industry and to a lesser degree STEM workforce development through student engagement in research efforts from EPSCoR and subsequent work from sustaining programs. In pursuit of these goals, we plan to offer a) partnership development ‘seed’ funding for joint research projects within state of Iowa, b) partnership development symposia to bring together intra-state scholars and NASA researchers to better exchange ideas, explore emerging research areas, and to work more effectively with NASA Centers, and c) travel grants to build upon research connections made with NASA researchers, industry, and other research organizations within the Iowa jurisdiction that develop from the symposia. The goals of the project are to establish stronger research connections between Iowa researchers and NASA research by increasing awareness of NASA opportunities and NASA researchers’ efforts. These relationships are to then lead to an increased number of researchers working on NASA technical issues. Other anticipated outcome will be increased intra-state collaboration in the academic and industry communities in NASA relevant areas.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.