The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is part of a team that has won up to $160 million over the next 10 years from the National Science Foundation for the BRIDGES Engine, a collaborative initiative that will generate millions of dollars in additional annual income for Tennessee farmers and create thousands of jobs across the state. BRIDGES, one of only 12 winning proposals from 300 pre-proposals and more than 70 full proposals, is a winner in NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines competition, established to advance transdisciplinary collaborative research development and spur opportunities in regions that have not benefited significantly from recent technology booms.
BRIDGES is designed to transform underused farmland in rural areas of Tennessee and Alabama into launchpads for biobased innovation by growing specially developed perennial grasses and turning those grasses into high-demand automotive, construction, and packaging products. The project is led jointly by the University of Tennessee, the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Auburn University, AGgrow Tech LLC, and long-standing UT partner Volkswagen Group of America.
“We are grateful to NSF for recognizing this ambitious project and the impact it will have on the industries and communities of Tennessee and the Southeast,” said Chancellor Donde Plowman. “Working alongside our partners on this bold collaborative initiative is an example of the value a great land-grant public research university can bring to the state, and it is why we continue to emphasize research that makes life better for the people of Tennessee and beyond.”