NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing circular bioeconomy technologies in North San Joaquin Valley (CA)

该区域创新引擎发展奖的重点是在加州北圣华金谷（NSJV）建立生物工业制造能力，这是一个由默塞德、斯坦尼斯劳斯和圣华金县组成的综合经济区。由于大规模的食品和农业活动、制造能力以及靠近生物技术创新中心，NSJV在生物工业制造方面处于独特的领先地位。NSJV是一个历史上服务不足的地区，贫困率和失业率远高于州平均水平，教育程度相对较低，环境正义和公共卫生面临重大挑战。通过建立生物产业制造的区域专业化，NSJV可以通过向价值链上游移动来实现区域经济的多样化和加强，为当地居民创造更高质量和可获得的家庭维持工作，推进国家生物经济和向净零碳经济的过渡，并促进更可持续的粮食和农业系统，减少对周围社区的环境和公共健康危害。生物制造利用生物科学和生物技术——特别是利用发酵——从有机材料中制造有用的产品，包括化学品、材料和燃料。然而，在将基础发现转化为具有公共利益的生物生产和生物工程应用方面，特别是转化为满足市场需求和全球可持续性挑战范围的可扩展解决方案方面，还存在差距。在原料多样化、先进生物制造工艺优化和大规模生产新生物产品的未来设备等创新领域存在差距。与此同时，在一个目前只有三分之一的工作提供通往繁荣之路的地区，有机会增加数千个提供经济流动性的高质量工作岗位——包括没有四年制学位的工人。通过有意的政策和协调，生物工业制造业提供了减少种族差异、解决环境不公正问题的机会，并通过劳动力发展努力将包容性纳入这一战略，从而创造财富。该发展奖将使广泛的区域合作伙伴以及战略合作伙伴和顾问网络能够为该引擎制定可操作的战略计划。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on building bioindustrial manufacturing capability in California's North San Joaquin Valley (NSJV), an integrated economic region consisting of Merced, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Counties. NSJV is uniquely positioned to lead in bioindustrial manufacturing due to an unparalleled combination of large-scale food and agricultural activity, manufacturing capacity, and proximity to hubs of biotechnology innovation. NSJV is a historically underserved region, with poverty and unemployment rates well above the state average, low relative educational attainment, and significant environmental justice and public health challenges. By building regional specialization in bioindustrial manufacturing, the NSJV can diversify and strengthen its regional economy by moving up the value chain, generate higher-quality and accessible family-sustaining jobs for local residents, advance the national bioeconomy and the transition to a net-zero carbon economy, and promote a more sustainable food and agriculture system that reduces environmental and public health harm to surrounding communities. Biomanufacturing uses bioscience and biotechnology - especially the use of fermentation - to create useful products, including chemicals, materials, and fuels, from organic material. Yet there is a gap in translation of basic discoveries into bioproduction and bioengineering applications with public benefit, particularly translation into scalable solutions that meet the market demands and the scope of global sustainability challenges. There are gaps in areas of innovation related to feedstock diversification, advanced biomanufacturing process optimization, and equipment of the future for producing new bioproducts at scale. At the same time, there is a new opportunity for growing thousands of high-quality jobs that offer economic mobility - including for workers without a four-year degree - in a region where only one-third of current jobs provide pathways to prosperity. With intentional policies and coordination, bioindustrial manufacturing presents the opportunity to decrease racial disparities, address environmental injustice, and build wealth by integrating inclusion into this strategy through workforce development efforts. This Development Award will enable a broad range of regional partners, along with a network of strategic collaborators and advisors, to develop actionable and strategic plans for this Engine.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.