NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing coastal resiliency in the Caribbean (PR, VI, FL)

该NSF区域创新引擎发展奖的重点是重新定义沿海地区的弹性，开发新技术以确保子孙后代的弹性，并促进加勒比地区基于创新的经济发展。该项目解决了沿海地区日益增加的脆弱性，提高了复原力和可持续性，并为政策提供信息，同时将该地区转变为一个充满活力的绿色经济区，重点关注与气候相关的知识产权、制造业和劳动力发展。在服务区域的中心，波多黎各作为探索和数据驱动创新的“生活实验室”；该岛拥有制造业基础设施的历史，拥有11个校区的大学系统和重要的军事基地，是一个理想的位置。该地区的主要伙伴关系形成了一个强大的专业知识、研究能力、学生交流和投资网络。多学科的研究和创新方法将为发现建立一个重要的生态系统，以解决加勒比地区的气候威胁，并促进新经济的发展，以满足沿海复原力的需求。该项目的活动将在六个网络中组织，重点关注沿海脆弱性的各个方面，包括可靠的数据收集、减轻海岸侵蚀的新设计、增加生物多样性、可再生和可持续能源，以及支持弹性的政策。每个网络将支持四个支柱的增长：(i)沿海弹性研发，以更好地了解主要飓风、气候变化和其他因素的变量；（ii）创新，以推动就业、创业活动和所有权经济；（iii）劳动力发展，以培养与弹性可再生能源、可持续制造业相关的高度竞争、包容和多样化的工程劳动力（利用关键战略领域的微证书）；(4)战略合作伙伴关系，学术合作伙伴、工业团体、政府实体、孵化器和现有机构将在加速新技术从实验室到市场的过程中发挥关键作用。该项目将基于可再生能源-水关系、微电网和数据驱动的系统集成，促进与可持续性和沿海复原力相关的技术转让和新技术的创造，基于研究成果的初创企业种子群，并与致力于该地区经济发展的区域和国家早期投资者和风险慈善家协调，确保研究的最大影响。支持经济增长，扩大所有制经济的包容性，从而为实现完整的国家科学基金引擎铺平道路。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 NSF Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on redefining resiliency for coastal regions, developing new technology to ensure resiliency for future generations, and catalyzing economic development based on innovation in the Caribbean. This project addresses the increased coastal vulnerability, increases resiliency and sustainability, and informs policy while transforming the region into a vibrant green economic zone focused on climate-related intellectual property, manufacturing, and workforce development. At the heart of the region of service, Puerto Rico serves as a "living laboratory" for exploration and data-driven innovation; with a history of infrastructure for manufacturing, a university system with eleven campuses, and key military bases, the island is an ideal location. Key partnerships in the region form a robust network of expertise, research capabilities, student exchange, and investment. The multi-disciplinary approach to research and innovation will build a significant ecosystem for discovery to address climate threats in the Caribbean and catalyze a new economy to meet the need for coastal resiliency. The project's activities will be organized in six networks focused on facets of coastal vulnerability, including robust data collection, new designs to mitigate coastal erosion, increased biodiversity, renewable and sustainable energy, and policies to support resiliency. Each network will support the growth of four pillars (i) R & D on Coastal Resiliency for a better understanding of the variables of major hurricanes, climate change, and other factors, (ii) Innovation to drive employment, business start-up activity and an ownership economy, (iii) Workforce Development for a highly competitive, inclusive and diverse engineering workforce (leveraging micro-credentials in key strategic areas) related to resilient renewable energy, sustainable manufacturing, and federal contracting, as well as train first responders who can provide vital services, and (iv) Strategic Partnerships academic partners, industry groups, government entities, incubators and an existing will play critical roles in accelerating new technologies from the lab to the market. This project will promote technology transfer and the creation of new technologies related to sustainability and coastal resiliency based on the renewable energy-water nexus, microgrids, and data-driven system integration, seed cohorts of startups based on research outcomes and coordinate with regional and national early-stage investors and venture philanthropists committed to economic development in the region, ensuring maximum impact of research, supporting economic growth and expanding inclusion in the ownership economy--- and thus setting forward the path toward a full NSF 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.