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

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.