Supporting Partnership for Advancement, Research, and Knowledge (SPARK) is a joint effort of four geographically diverse and primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs). Each SPARK institution seeks to overcome its unique challenges by developing the capacity to facilitate innovation and knowledge creation by building and sustaining partnerships with industry and innovation ecosystems in its region. These efforts will also pave the way for each institution to develop intellectual property rights policies and construct partnership agreements while also positioning itself more favorably than heretofore to pursue external funding opportunities.
Working together as a community, the SPARK cohort will focus on four primary objectives. First, each institution will improve how it supports research and community partnerships by identifying and fixing areas where policies or processes are lacking or are not helpful. Second, each will provide professional development and incentives for faculty and staff to expand their involvement in use-inspired research and institutional capacity building. Third, each will build stronger relationships with local industries and innovation ecosystems with the help of dedicated liaisons or individuals adept at building relational assets to function as catalysts of this effort. Finally, each will create a center or hub designed to sustain the efforts achieved by the cohort even after the cohort ceases to exist.
Along the way, members of the SPARK cohort will support each other, learn from one another, and empower all so that each institution may leverage its specific resources and expertise and address its region's challenges. 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.
SUNY College at Brockport
SUNY Brockport is using its EPIIC SPARK award to grow industry and innovation-ecosystem partnerships at the comprehensive college in western New York. Brockport is improving partnership policies and processes, providing professional development and incentives for faculty around use-inspired research, building stronger ties with regional industries through dedicated liaisons, and establishing a sustaining hub that anchors the college's contribution to the Rochester-area innovation economy.
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is leveraging its EPIIC SPARK award to expand industry and innovation-ecosystem partnerships rooted in art, design, and creative practice. RISD is improving partnership policies and processes, providing professional development and incentives for faculty around use-inspired research, building stronger ties with local industries through dedicated liaisons, and establishing a sustaining partnership hub that anchors the college's contribution to Providence's creative economy.
Southern Arkansas University Main Campus
Southern Arkansas University is using its EPIIC SPARK award to grow research and industry partnership capacity at the public PUI in southwest Arkansas. SAU is expanding research administration staff to support faculty access to grants, coordinating a regional consortium with peer PUIs on federal funding and STEM workforce initiatives, and establishing an industry liaison role that connects engineering and science programs with the emerging lithium and battery sector for internships and workforce development.
Guilford College
Guilford College is strengthening its research and partnership infrastructure through the EPIIC-SPARK initiative by building systems that expand faculty and staff capacity for grantsmanship, collaboration and innovation. The College will conduct a comprehensive gap analysis to identify barriers to research participation and guide institutional improvements. Guilford is also launching a Faculty Fellows Program and developing a professional-development repository to support interdisciplinary research and partnership skills. A new Partnership Liaison position will cultivate partnerships that advance the College's strategic priorities and strengthen relationships across education, industry, nonprofit, and government sectors. Additionally, Guilford will establish a SPARK Research, Innovation, and Collaboration Hub to create a dedicated space for partnership building and knowledge exchange. Together, these efforts will enable Guilford to increase external funding, expand collaborative research, and cultivate mission-centered partnerships that bring Guilford's distinctive perspectives and strengths to the regional innovation ecosystem.
