TEDCO recently announced the findings of an independent economic impact study detailing its contributions to Maryland. The 2026 study shows that in fiscal year 2025, TEDCO supported more than $1 billion in statewide economic output, 4,027 jobs and $479 million in labor income—building on a track record that now totals more than $9.9 billion in economic output and 38,000 jobs since inception.
UIDP announced that the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Directorate has awarded a new five-year cooperative agreement to support the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA). The award provides nearly $8 million in projected funding through August 2031. ERVA brings together leaders from academia, industry, government, national laboratories, and the broader engineering community to identify emerging opportunities and develop strategic research directions with the potential to generate significant national and societal benefits. UIDP administers the initiative with funding from the NSF Directorate for Engineering.
UMass Amherst is launching a $120 million effort to address global food system challenges. The initiative will include a new 36,000-square-foot food innovation hub, a multidisciplinary collaborative research center, an endowed chair in food science, and three endowed faculty. The Future of Food Initiative will be funded from four $30 million groups: donors Paul and Diane Manning, through their family foundation; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; UMass Amherst; and an additional $30 million to be raised by the UMass Amherst Foundation.
US Ignite, through the Supporting U.S. Regional Growth & Entrepreneurship program, has published a research paper, How Regional Innovation Strategies Take Shape: Lessons from Four Coalitions Pursuing Federal Investment, that follows four regional coalitions, Minnesota MedTech (The Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul and Rochester area), Sustainable Polymers (Akron), iFAB (Central Illinois), and KC BioHub (Kansas City), through interviews with each coalition leader, from their 2023 Tech Hubs designation through the program's July 2026 implementation round.