NSF awards FuzeHub $1M grant to lead program for advanced-materials activity

ALBANY — FuzeHub will use a $1 million grant to help it lead Upstate Makes, which it describes as a collaborative initiative to build New York’s advanced-materials ecosystem and “foster innovation-fueled economic growth.” The National Science Foundation awarded the funding, FuzeHub said in its July 10 announcement. FuzeHub is an Albany–based nonprofit that works to help New York state-based manufacturers and technology companies. NSF awarded the funding through its Regional Innovation Engines Development Awards. “Upstate Makes will have the opportunity to demonstrate our region’s emergence as an internationally renowned advanced materials ecosystem. With a special focus on driving materials innovation in semiconductor manufacturing, it will add to the unique strength of Upstate New York’s vibrant and growing microelectronics sector,” Elena Garuc, executive director of FuzeHub, said. “FuzeHub is grateful to [U.S.] Senate Majority Leader [Charles] Schumer for his vision for American innovation and for relentlessly advocating for Upstate Makes. We also extend our gratitude to Governor Hochul and Empire State Development for their commitment to advanced manufacturing and their partnership in building New York’s innovation ecosystem.” The Upstate Makes initiative led to the creation of the New York Advanced Materials Alliance, FuzeHub said. The Alliance brings together several industry, research, workforce development, commercialization, and community partners to serve as the “driving force” behind FuzeHub’s ecosystem-building efforts. Working together, the partners involved will focus on fostering materials innovation for semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing, “which has become a massive regional strength” for upstate New York, per the announcement. The region is home to multiple fabs, industry employment, patent activity, and shared research and development (R&D) facilities. FuzeHub also says it will use a $200,000 grant from Empire State Development (ESD) to “deepen the impact” of NSF’s $1 million for Upstate Makes. The strategic grant funding “builds on the momentum” generated through Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Green CHIPS program, which has sparked economic development and attracted global enterprises to invest and build in New York State, the organization said. FuzeHub is supported by ESD’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), which oversees and funds New York’s innovation infrastructure, a network of statewide resources.

“Nuture and mature” ecosystem

The NSF funding, along with ESD’s matching grant, will enable FuzeHub to help “nurture and mature” Upstate’s materials-innovation ecosystem, which will “strengthen” the Upstate Makes proposal when it recompetes to become a future NSF Regional Innovation Engine and receive up to $160 million, FuzeHub said. In the weeks and months to come, FuzeHub will mobilize its core R&D partners, reconvene and expand the wider consortium of collaborators, conduct materials technology road-mapping, collaboratively explore new and more sustainable materials, and “reinvigorate its strategies” to build the ecosystem and shape the Upstate region into a “materials innovation engine.” As the initiative gains momentum, Upstate Makes will emphasize four key “pillars.” They include “use-inspired R&D,” or investing in research that develops new materials or improves material inputs to become more sustainable and for microelectronics production. They also include building a network of resources that helps manufacturing companies adopt new materials, overcome innovation challenges, and become more competitive. In addition, the pillars include enhancing Upstate’s innovation capabilities and accelerate the discovery and commercialization of new materials for microelectronics, “leveraging historically excluded talent and untapped ideas.” The fourth pillar focuses on identifying and addressing key workforce needs, such as developing greater numbers of manufacturing operators and technicians and strengthening the pipeline of materials scientists and engineers, starting with introductions to advanced materials for K-12 students. The partners contributing to Upstate Makes include the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology (CACT) at Alfred University; the Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP) at Clarkson University; the Center for Materials Research at Cornell University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the Center of Excellence in Advanced and Sustainable Manufacturing (COE-ASM) and the Additive Manufacturing and Multifunctional Printing (AMPrint) Center at Rochester Institute of Technology; S3IP at Binghamton University; the REMADE Institute; the University at Buffalo Department of Materials Design and Innovation (MDI); the Center for Advanced Technology in Nanoelectronics at University at Albany; and more than 50 additional partners focused on R&D, industry development, and workforce. “These NSF Engines Development Awards lay the foundation for emerging hubs of innovation and potential future NSF Engines,” Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of the National Science Foundation, said in the FuzeHub announcement. “These awardees are part of the fabric of NSF’s vision to create opportunities everywhere and enable innovation anywhere. They will build robust regional partnerships rooted in scientific and technological innovation in every part of our nation. Through these planning awards, NSF is seeding the future for in-place innovation in communities and to grow their regional economies through research and partnerships. This will unleash ideas, talent, pathways and resources to create vibrant innovation ecosystems all across our nation.”