May 12, 2023

Northwest Center for Energy and Decarbonization

The Inland Northwest Center for Energy and Decarbonization (INTENT) has been awarded $996,490 through its partner, Urbanova, from the U.S. National Science Foundation's Regional Innovation Engines, or NSF Engines, program. The funded two-year project is: “Advancing energy and decarbonization technologies in the Inland Northwest”. The INTENT/Urbanova team is among the more than 40 teams to receive one of the first-ever NSF Engines Development Awards, which aim to help partners collaborate to create economic, societal, and technological opportunities for their regions. This award is focused on accelerating the equitable decarbonization of the power grid and energy systems in the Inland Northwest region. The scope of the NSF Engines Development Award project will ultimately serve 28 Inland Northwest counties in Washington and Idaho. The overarching goal is to inclusively build the economy, nurture effective investments in innovation, grow and sustain a capable workforce, and draw use-inspired research and development into building economic opportunities. Initially, committed partners include tribal governments, land grant research universities, an investor-owned utility, national labs, a regional workforce council, non-profits leading in energy and equity, public and private universities, public utility districts, angel investment groups, intellectual property experts, state agencies, other economic cluster organizations and several sector-leading for-profit companies. Urbanova was founded in 2016 as a civic innovation partnership bringing city, university, industry, and nonprofit sectors together to discover how new technologies, integrated data and jointly developed solutions can improve lives of residents.