NSF Engines Development Award: Building a climate-smart future in the Columbia River Basin (ID, OR, WA)

该区域创新引擎发展奖旨在利用哥伦比亚河流域（CRB）地区开发可持续，创新，气候智能型产品和实践，以及熟练的劳动力，以推动弹性，公平的经济应对气候变化。该项目名为FIERCE，将为华盛顿、爱达荷州和俄勒冈州的CRB州的气候智能生态系统奠定基础。通过一个两级系统，FIERCE将为以下基本计划重点领域开发脚手架：受启发的研究和开发，将创新转化为实践，劳动力发展，生态系统伙伴关系和本土创新。FIERCE内部的研究项目将用于开发测量和验证其有效性的解决方案和工具，以确保它们减少大气温室气体。FIERCE将与所有公民合作，加强现有的和创建新的分布式劳动力发展计划，特别是在土著社区，他们作为西部大片主权土地的拥有者，是该地区气候智能未来的重要合作伙伴。最后，FIERCE将通过与区域经济发展组织、企业家、国家机构和气候智能型孵化器的战略伙伴关系，将创新转化为实践。化石燃料经济造成的大气温室气体浓度不断增加，导致全球气温危险上升，引发特大火灾和特大干旱，影响社区基础设施、粮食和纤维供应、水质和水量，和人类健康。解决这些破坏性问题需要气候智能型解决方案，即减少温室气体排放，固碳，提高区域气候适应能力，同时保持或增加经济产出。FIERCE引擎将通过该地区独特的农业、林业、能源、教育和商业发展合作伙伴生态系统，研究、开发、识别和转化气候智能型解决方案和产品。在开发阶段，FIERCE将加强现有的合作伙伴关系，并与直接资金来源建立新的关系，这些资金来源可以为FIERCE引擎注入资金并进行长期投资。每个FIERCE重点领域的工作组将召开会议，以确定、综合和优先考虑FIERCE在增长阶段支持的区域项目和想法。这项工作的成果将产生出版物和报告，这些出版物和报告将用于指导进一步的引擎开发，加强致力于气候变化和FIERCE愿景的社会目标的伙伴关系，以及为促进创造力，包容性和经济上可行的气候变化解决方案的弹性生态系统奠定基础。该开发奖将使该团队能够参与区域合作规划过程，以准备未来的发动机来实现这些目标。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 leverage the Columbia River Basin (CRB)region to develop sustainable, innovative, climate-smart products and practices, and a skilled workforce to fuel a resilient, equitable, economy to combat climate change. The project, named FIERCE, will lay the groundwork for this climate-smart ecosystem in the CRB states of Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Through a two-tiered system, FIERCE will develop the scaffolding for the following underlying program focus areas: Use-inspired Research and Development, Translation of Innovations to Practice, Workforce Development, Ecosystem Partnerships, and Indigenous Innovations. Use-inspired research projects within FIERCE will be used to develop solutions and tools for measuring and verifying their effectiveness to ensure they reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases. FIERCE will engage with all citizens to strengthen existing and create new distributed workforce development programs, especially in Indigenous communities who, as holders of large tracts of sovereign lands in the West, are essential partners to a climate-smart future beginning in the region. Finally, FIERCE will translate innovations to practice through strategic partnerships with regional economic development organizations, entrepreneurs, state agencies, and climate-smart incubators.Increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases from a fossil-fuel-based economy have caused a dangerous increase in global temperatures causing megafires and megadroughts that have impacted community infrastructure, food and fiber availability, water quality and quantity, and human health. Climate-smart solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon, and increase regional climate adaptation while maintaining or increasing economic output are required to solve these destructive problems. The FIERCE engine will research, develop, identify, and translate climate-smart solutions and products through a unique ecosystem of agricultural, forestry, energy, educational, and business development partners in the region. In the development phase, FIERCE will strengthen existing partnerships and build new relationships with direct funding sources that can infuse capital and invest long-term in the FIERCE Engine. Working groups for each of the FIERCE focal areas will convene to identify, synthesize, and prioritize regional projects and ideas for FIERCE to support in the growth phase. Outcomes of this work will generate publications and reports that will be used to guide further Engine development, strengthened partnerships committed to the climate change and societal goals underlying the FIERCE vision, and the foundation for a resilient ecosystem that fosters creativity, inclusion, and economically-viable solutions to climate change. This Development Award will enable the team to engage in a regional, collaborative planning process to prepare a future Engine to meet these goals.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.