Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

UPDATE: Marc Gibson, Acting Chief Executive Officer of TEAM TN, issued an extensive statement on Thursday. In it, he wrote, “I am saddened by the NSF review teams’ decision not to move our proposal forward to the next round, and we weren’t chosen as one of the 29 teams to be invited for a reverse site visit. We have not received feedback, and won’t until early September, so I don’t want to speculate why the decision was made not to move TEAM TN to the next phase. However, I do want to take this opportunity to recognize the tremendous work of the coalition over these (almost) three years. I am forever grateful for the tremendous amount of support you all have poured into our efforts to make Tennessee a competitive hotbed for advanced mobility.”

ORIGINAL: The National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program has announced the 29 semifinalists advancing to the next stage of the second competition, spanning critical technologies and applications ranging from energy grid security to maximizing the yield of critical minerals mining to advanced optical sensors.

The semifinalist teams, many of whom have been building their regional coalitions for a year or longer, are led by universities, nonprofits, private industry, and other organizations from across the United States.

Four of the semifinalists are from Alabama and Kentucky, and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) is involved in two of those projects. However, the NSF Engines project that UTK was leading, known as TEAM TN, was not among those selected to advance to the next stage after being selected by NSF as one of 71 to advance to the quarterfinal round of the competition.

The next round involves:

1. Live, virtual assessments of the semifinalist teams to gain further understanding of their regional coalitions;
2. The alignment of their proposed leadership teams and core partners; and
3. Their visions for research and development (R&D) as well as translation.

NSF will select the finalists for the NSF Engines program following these assessments. NSF anticipates announcing the final list of NSF Engines awards in early 2026.

Those selected that involve UTK, among other partners, are:

1. GAME Change, led by the University of Kentucky Research Foundation; focused on the circular economy in Tennessee and Kentucky; and also involving UT at Chattanooga, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, the Tennessee Board of Regents, and Launch Tennessee.
2. Biobased Rural Innovation for Domestic Growth and Economic Security (BRIDGES), led by the HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, AL; focused on Tennessee and Alabama by creating rural economic development through a plant-based products for the construction materials, automotive and packaging industries in the Southeast; and including the UT Institute of Agriculture as a partner.

“This outstanding cohort of semifinalists clearly demonstrates that America’s technology competitiveness will depend as much on expanding our ability to unlock innovation capacity in every part of our country — from the rural plains and western ranges to cities with rich industrial and manufacturing legacies — as it will on advancing the technologies themselves,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Assistant Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. “Each team was selected because it brought strong public and private partners to the table and outlined a promising vision for research, innovation, and workforce development in their respective regions of service, thereby advancing U.S competitiveness, national security, and economic growth.”

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