On April 11, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) opened applications for its STEM Talent Challenge competition to provide funding for programs that build a robust STEM workforce in emerging and transformative sectors such as aerospace, aeronautics, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and cybersecurity.

EDA’s Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship plans to award a total of $4.5 million in grants to organizations, including counties, that are creating and implementing STEM talent development strategies that complement their region’s innovation economy. Applicants may request up to $500,000 for the implementation of a 24-month program, and a 1:1 funding match is required.

Counties’ projects should expand and empower their innovation economy workforce by:

• Engaging regional entrepreneurs and innovators to assess and forecast current and future talent needs;
• Providing technical training to individuals and connecting them to opportunities to strengthen the technical and scientific workforce that regional innovation initiatives need; and
• Strengthening collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry leaders and employers, educational organizations, established corporations, economic and/or workforce development organizations, and the public sector to enable better access to skilled workers and to develop demand-driven workforce pipelines

Applications are due by June 12 at 11:59 p.m. EDT on sfgrants.eda.gov. Competitive applications will demonstrate how the program will develop or expand regional STEM workforce capacity to support entrepreneurial ventures, industries of the future, and other innovation-driven businesses. NACo will inform members when EDA establishes a date for an informational webinar on the program.