University Industry Demonstration Partnership, Inc. (Uidp, Inc)

University Industry Demonstration Partnership, Inc. (doing business as UIDP) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, that operates as a federal grant recipient organizing facilitated workshops, stakeholder convening activities, and cross-sector partnership platforms designed to strengthen research collaboration across academia, industry, government, and nonprofit sectors. UIDP operates entirely as a prime recipient on federal grants; it does not hold federal contracts and does not operate as a subrecipient.

UIDP's federal footprint is concentrated almost entirely within the National Science Foundation, which has funded the bulk of its recent activity. Over the past five years, UIDP has received twenty awards carrying a combined $16 million in obligated federal funding, with accelerating activity: one award in 2022, three in 2023, three in 2024, five in 2025, and four in 2026 through September. The Appalachian Regional Commission accounts for three additional awards totaling $100 thousand under its Appalachian Research, Technical Assistance, and Demonstration Projects program (CFDA 23.011).

UIDP's capability portfolio centers on convening and partnership facilitation work. Recent large awards include a $2.284 million cooperative agreement from NSF's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships program (CFDA 47.084) through July 2031 to establish and evaluate the Industry-Integrated PhD (I-PhD) Scholars Program, a four-year doctoral education pilot integrating industry mentorship into PhD dissertation research. UIDP also received a $1.679 million cooperative agreement under NSF's Engineering program (CFDA 47.041) through August 2031 to operate the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA) II, a multi-stakeholder convening platform identifying bold engineering research directions with participation from the Big Ten Academic Alliance, the EPSCOR/IDEA Foundation, and academic and industry partners. A $520 thousand project grant from NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education (CFDA 47.076) funds a three-year peer-learning network for principal investigators in NSF's Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (EXLENT) program, operating through August 2029 with core activities including annual workshops, monthly calls, quarterly newsletters, and a moderated online forum. Smaller awards support workshop delivery: a $375 thousand NSF project grant funded a facilitated workshop on AI/ML efficiency and scaling translational opportunities (completed July 2026), and a $199 thousand award supported planning and stakeholder engagement on modernizing cross-sector research partnerships (completed July 2026).

NSF accounts for 75 percent of UIDP's award count across multiple directorates and offices, including the Office of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities, the Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate, the Division of Undergraduate Education, the Division of Chemistry, and the Office of International Science and Engineering. The Appalachian Regional Commission represents the second customer, with three smaller project grants for career and technical education and regional research activities. UIDP has no recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months beyond one award (the ARC grant) completing by July 2025; the organization's largest cooperative agreements extend through 2031.