Collaborative research: epiic: accelerating sustainable partnerships for innovation, research, and entrepreneurship in AI (aspire-AI)

The University of Bridgeport Inc. received a $400,000 Project Grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084), effective October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2028. The ASPIRE-AI (Accelerating Sustainable Partnerships for Innovation, Research, and Entrepreneurship in AI) project delivers institutional capacity-building services and strategic partnership infrastructure to advance artificial intelligence research and innovation across non-R1 institutions. Core deliverables include the establishment of centralized partnership hubs, comprehensive faculty development programs, and frameworks for facilitating interdisciplinary research collaborations. The project generates intellectual products including toolkits for managing external partnerships, faculty engagement playbooks, and technology transfer frameworks specifically designed for under-resourced institutions.

Through cohort collaboration among participating institutions, ASPIRE-AI creates a community of practice model demonstrating how non-R1 institutions can leverage external partnerships to enhance regional capacity in emerging technologies. The project integrates AI applications across multiple disciplinary fields—including agriculture, healthcare, climate adaptation, and advanced manufacturing—while simultaneously advancing workforce preparedness and regional economic development. By addressing structural barriers such as limited infrastructure and fragmented institutional cultures, the initiative produces actionable knowledge and tools that support applied AI research translation and innovation while building sustainable capacity for technology transfer and commercialization within resource-constrained academic environments.

Abstract

Aspire-AI will accelerate sustainable external partnerships in artificial intelligence (AI) and applying AI to drive innovation, research, and entrepreneurship. The project aims to enhance regional economic growth and workforce development by establishing institutional structures for partnership development, strengthening faculty engagement, and advance workforce preparedness. Each collaborating institution brings unique strengths, leveraging regional and disciplinary expertise to address barriers such as limited infrastructure and fragmented institutional cultures. By promoting interdisciplinary research collaborations and building sustainable industry and community partnerships, aspire-AI generates actionable knowledge and tools to advance applied AI research and innovation. The cohort collaboration will create a model for non-R1 institutions to leverage external partnerships to enhance regional capacity in responding to emerging technologies and the impact IT will have on workforce development. Aspire-AI will establish centralized partnership hubs, implement comprehensive faculty development programs, and facilitate interdisciplinary research initiatives that generate actionable knowledge and tools to advance applied AI research and innovation. These efforts are supported by shared resources and a focus on scaling successes across cohort institutions, which naturally form a community of practice to augment mutual support for capacity building. The project will produce intellectual contributions including toolkits for managing external partnerships, faculty engagement playbooks, and technology transfer frameworks tailored to the challenges of under-resourced institutions. Aspire-AI will also integrate AI into research and curricula across fields such as agriculture, healthcare, climate adaptation, and advanced manufacturing, equipping students with the skills needed to address critical societal challenges through experiential learning activities. Additionally, aspire-AI will drive institutional cultural change that encourages and supports external collaboration in use-inspired research, innovation, and workforce initiatives. Through these efforts, the participating institutions have the opportunity to emerge as regional leaders in AI-driven research and innovation and become vital contributors to their regional innovation ecosystems. 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.