Collaborative research: epiic: supporting partnerships for advancement, research, and knowledge (SPARK)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) awarded $373,360 to The Research Foundation for SUNY at Brockport, effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028, to support the SPARK (Supporting Partnership for Advancement, Research, and Knowledge) initiative. This collaborative research project engages four geographically diverse primarily undergraduate institutions in developing institutional capacity to facilitate innovation and knowledge creation through strategic partnerships with regional industry and innovation ecosystems. The award supports the delivery of policy improvements, faculty and staff professional development programs, industry liaison services, and the establishment of sustainable centers or hubs designed to extend the cohort's achievements beyond the grant period.

The SPARK cohort will collectively work to enhance institutional support for research and community partnerships, provide incentives for faculty engagement in use-inspired research, establish dedicated liaisons to strengthen relationships with local industries and innovation ecosystems, and create permanent centers to sustain outcomes. Participating institutions will benefit from shared learning and mutual support mechanisms that enable each institution to leverage its specific resources and expertise while addressing regional economic development and research capacity challenges. This initiative reflects NSF's commitment to advancing breakthrough technologies and solutions to national and societal challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships.

Abstract

Supporting partnership for advancement, research, and knowledge (SPARK) is a joint effort of four geographically diverse and primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIS). Each SPARK institution seeks to overcome its unique challenges by developing the capacity to facilitate innovation and knowledge creation by building and sustaining partnerships with industry and innovation ecosystems in its region. These efforts will also pave the way for each institution to develop intellectual property rights policies and construct partnership agreements while also positioning itself more favorably than heretofore to pursue external funding opportunities. Working together as a community, the SPARK cohort will focus on four primary objectives. First, each institution will improve how IT supports research and community partnerships by identifying and fixing areas where policies or processes are lacking or are not helpful. Second, each will provide professional development and incentives for faculty and staff to expand their involvement in use-inspired research and institutional capacity building. Third, each will build stronger relationships with local industries and innovation ecosystems with the help of dedicated liaisons or individuals adept at building relational assets to function as catalysts of this effort. Finally, each will create a center or hub designed to sustain the efforts achieved by the cohort even after the cohort ceases to exist. Along the way, members of the SPARK cohort will support each other, learn from one another, and empower all so that each institution may leverage its specific resources and expertise and address its region's challenges. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.