NSF Engines Development Award: Building an sustainable plastics innovation ecosystem in the Midwest (MN, IL)

该区域创新引擎发展奖旨在创建一个生态系统，以促进向可持续的新循环塑料经济的过渡。由明尼苏达大学双城分校领导，它由使用启发的研究，采用解决方案的翻译，劳动力扩张和包容性文化组成。该项目团队由11个学术机构、4个非营利/社区组织、5个政府机构、16个行业合作伙伴和6个经济发展团体组成，明尼苏达大学是牵头机构。服务区域为芝加哥、明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗、印第安纳州和威斯康星州的部分城市/郊区。该项目将为创新生态系统奠定基础，该生态系统将：a）创建一个识别和解决使用启发研究问题的中心，B）填补创新生态系统中的关键空白，c）在整个生态系统中实现以公平为中心的增长。社会正处于如何制造、使用和丢弃塑料的十字路口，目前的做法显然是不可持续的。塑料的普遍使用，加上回收率低，消耗了资源，并将塑料废物泄漏到环境中，危害环境和人类健康，并对经济和社会弱势群体造成不成比例的影响。现代社会需要塑料，但无法再承受当前塑料生态系统的不可持续和破坏性后果。该奖项反映了NSF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 seeks to create an ecosystem to facilitate the transition to a sustainable, new circular plastics economy. Led by University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, it is comprised of use-inspired research, translation of solutions to adoption, workforce expansion, and a culture of inclusivity. The project team is comprised of 11 academic institutions, 4 non-profit/community organizations, 5 government facilities, 16 industry partners, and 6 economic development groups, with the University of Minnesota serving as the lead institution. The region served is urban/suburban areas around Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul and parts of Indiana and Wisconsin.The project will build the foundations for an innovation ecosystem that will: a) create a hub for identifying and solving use-inspired research problems, b) fill critical gaps in the innovation ecosystem and c) enable equity-centered growth across the ecosystem. Society is at a crossroads with how it makes, uses, and discards plastics, and the current course is demonstrably unsustainable. The ubiquitous use of plastics, coupled with low recovery rates, depletes resources and leaks plastic waste into the environment, harming environmental and human health and disproportionately impacting economically and socially disadvantaged groups. Modern societies need plastic but can no longer afford the unsustainable and damaging consequences of the current plastics ecosystem. The concentration of relevant expertise and resources in the Midwest make it ideally suited to recreate and re-imagine the plastics industry as a circular economy.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.