NSF Advancing M-SPIRE

Join us in our mission to advance sustainable plastics in our regional innovation ecosystem! We assembled an incredible foundation in the proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation for a Midwest Sustainable Plastics Innovation Regional Engine (M-SPIRE). After reaching one of sixteen finalists during the inaugural competition in 2023, our group was awarded an NSF Engines Development Award ($1 M / 2 years) to continue strengthening the ecosystem and lay the groundwork for a successful submission during the upcoming NSF Engine Opportunity.

Partnerships advancing plastics circularity

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Development Phase

Programmatic Goals

01 Engine Ecosystem

Maintain and establish partnerships with companies that represent the entire plastics ecosystem, organizations that support workforce development, firms that support entrepreneurs and their startups, and non-profits to amplify their work.

02 Workforce Development

Define the workforce supporting sustainable plastics and forecast needs. Support agreements across education institutions and support recruitment and training for a diverse workforce pipeline.

03 Translation of Innovation

Support connectivity between entrepreneurial and startup community with strategic partners and investors to enable growth and scale. Publish a landscape and market analysis. Map partnerships across the ecosystem.

2024 NSF Engines Funding Opportunity

We are proposing M-SPIRE as a 2024 NSF Engine in the recently announced funding opportunity.

Our North Star vision is that the molecules that make up plastics continue to circulate to provide value without societal or environmental harm. This will be achieved by identifying and solving use-inspired research problems and filling critical gaps in the innovation ecosystem to advance sustainable plastics innovations across the “valley of death,”

Innovation

Through a multiplicative lens, we account for hidden privileges and oppression that are located within insular approaches to DEIAJ. We aim to cultivate an environment where feelings of belonging and acceptance of intersectional identities are amplified and embolden those disenfranchised by ensuring numerical and ontological representation.

Culture of DEIAJ

Our industries need to collaborate broadly with a willingness to bridge efforts across a multi-partner, multi-sector collaboration to make progress on goals. M-SPIRE will be the conduit to support this convening of industry partners, startup founders, trainees, community voices, and academic researchers to accelerate the development and implementation of solutions.

Partnership