The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Authority awarded the LSU Industrial Innovation Center, or LSU-IIC, a grant to support technological advances in the chemical manufacturing industry, according to a
Wednesday news release.
More than 215 colleges, nonprofit organizations and entrepreneurship-focused organizations applied, and the University was one of 35 organizations to receive the grant.
In the release, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker congratulated the grant recipients, stating it’s the agency’s job to support these organizations.
“As America’s Innovation Agency, the Commerce Department has a key role to play in supporting the visionaries and job creators of tomorrow. Congratulations to today’s awardees who will make U.S. communities, businesses and the workforce more globally competitive,” Pritzker said in the release.
Louisiana has been deemed the “chemical corridor” because of the hundreds of chemical manufacturing facilities and refineries in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles. The state is one of 24 manufacturing communities belonging to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s “Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership” initiative. The University was awarded $498,624 by the Regional Innovation Strategies, or RIS, program to support modernization of the multibillion dollar industry.
Jonathan Shi, the University’s Art E. Favre Endowed Chair in Industrial Construction, explained center’s plan to innovate the industry in the release.
“Our proposed innovation approach is to work with our industrial partners including plant operators and industrial contractors. The LSU-IIC will work with them to identify their technological needs and then match them up with an innovator to develop the technology,” Shi said in the release. “We are so excited that the EDA is providing us with this wonderful opportunity to implement our plan over the next three years.”
The LSU-IIC aims to influence existing industrial partnerships established through the Louisiana Chemical Manufacturing Initiative. The LCMI is made up of more than 90 local partners, including government organizations, higher education institutions, foundation entities, non profits and other community organizations from various chemical manufacturing industries in Louisiana. It will also apply and increase innovative resources available at the LSU Innovation Park and Louisiana Business and Technology Center.
Charles D’Agostino, executive director of LSU Innovation Park and co-investigator of the application, explained how the grant will help enhance the program.
“This grant will allow LSU to develop mechanisms to capitalize on the interactions with private sector engineering and other industrial sectors,” D’Agostino said in the release. “It will foster technological advancements in mature industries that will stimulate productivity and economic impact. The end result will employ new creative thoughts to game-changing technologies that benefit society.”
RIS grants are split into two categories: the i6 Challenge Investments and the Seed Fund Support, or SFS, Investments.
Here is a list of the Seed Fund Support investments:

• CalCEF Ventures, California Clean Energy Fund, San Francisco, Calif. – $250,000
• Investors’ Circle, Colorado Seed-Stage Impact Fund, Durham, N.C. – $250,000
• Launch New York, Mentorship-Driven Seed Fund, Buffalo, N.Y. – $245,460
• Research Park Corporation, Louisiana Deal Flow Accelerator, Baton Rouge, La. – $250,000
• Propeller Social Impact Equity Fund, New Orleans, La. – $250,000
• Telluride Foundation, Telluride, Colo. – $150,000
• University of South Florida, Seed Tampa Bay, Tampa, Fla. – $150,000
• University of Texas, Gender Lens Impact Fund, Austin, Texas – $250,000

i6 Challenge Investments:

• AZ Board of Regents, RISN Incubator, Tempe, Ariz. – $500,000
• Cal State LA University Auxiliary Services, LABio Start Boot Camp, Los Angeles, Calif. – $499,087
• California State University Fresno Foundation, Central Valley Regional Energy Innovation Accelerator, Fresno, Calif. – $500,000
• Clark Atlanta University, Clark Russell Entrepreneurship and Technology Ecosystem (CREATE), Atlanta, Ga. – $432,335
• Composite Technology Recycling Center, Recycled Carbon Fiber Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator, Port Angeles, Wash. – $500,000
• East Carolina University, Proof-of-Concept Project, Greenville, N.C. – $498,443
• First Flight Venture Center, Hanger 6, Durham, N.C. – $441,000
• i2E Inc, Venture Assessment Program, Oklahoma City, Okla. – $199,749
• Idea Foundry, Advanced Life Sciences Commercialization Project, Pittsburgh, Pa. – $500,000
• Lorain County Community College, Northeast Ohio Regional Acceleration in Digital Innovation (NEO ReADI), Elyria, Ohio – $499,999
• Louisiana State University and A&M College, Louisiana State University Industrial Innovation Center (LSU-IIC), Baton Rouge, La. – $498,624
• Metro North Regional Employment Board, Form to Factory Advanced Manufacturing Project, Cambridge, Mass. – $500,000
• mHUB, Catalyze Chicago, Chicago, Ill. – $500,000
• Mohawk Valley Community College, Upstate Innovation Accelerator, Utica, N.Y. – $499,500
• Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator, Brooklyn, N.Y. – $486,680
• Regents of the University of California, Riverside Proof of Concept Center, Riverside, Calif. – $499,950
• Research Foundation for the State University of New York, Regional SBIR/STTR Mentorship Program, Stony Brook, N.Y. – $500,000
• Rutgers University, Ecolgnite: Clean Energy Proof of Concept Center and Accelerator Program, Piscataway, N.J. – $439,190
• Southern Research Institute, Alliance for Innovative Medical Technology Proof of Concept Center, Birmingham, Ala. – $500,000
• StartingBlock Madison, Fitchburg, Wis. – $471,875
• University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., New Materials Innovation Center, Athens, Ga.- $499,635
• University of Pittsburgh, Manufacturing Accelerator Program, Pittsburgh, Pa. – $500,000
• University of Tennessee Health Science Center, The UTHSC Proof of Concept Center, Memphis, Tenn. – $499,885
• University of Texas at Austin, Texas Smart Water Innovation Cluster, Austin, Texas – $500,000
• University of Texas at San Antonio, The South-Texas Innovation Partnership Program (S-TIPP), San Antonio, Texas – $499,997
• University of Toledo, The University of Toledo Rocket Fuel Fund, Toledo, Ohio – $500,000
• WERX Foundation, McKinney, Texas – $345,895