National leaders, universities convene to discuss greater adoption of climate technology

Last week, FIU held a strategy session with top universities, federal officials and investment leaders to address the growing need to scale climate technologies to meet pressing environmental challenges.

The South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub hosted the event in collaboration with FIU, which included prominent figures from nine universities focused on creating sustainable technologies as a part of the EDA-funded Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs) program. The coalition is expected to continue to grow to include several other institutions, each seeking to increase investments and launch successful startups in their regions.

“The EDA Tech Hub program focuses on the importance of collaborations between institutions to deliver impact and FIU’s leadership bringing together sustainability-focused tech hubs from other regions is an extension of this focus,” said Jim Strickland, senior director of research partnerships and Translation at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University. “We look forward to working across states to develop new sustainable innovations that transform economies and improve resilience.”

In addition to Northeastern University, FIU welcomed the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, University of Miami, Florida Atlantic University, Washington State University, Georgetown University and the University of Maryland. The guests included representatives from the Ocean Tech Hub and the Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub.

The group kicked off the day with a joint strategy session, focusing on identifying challenges and opportunities for universities to commercialiize environmentally focused emerging technologies.

Department of Commerce and tech hub program representatives Daniel Goetzel and FIU alumna Ines Hernandez moderated a conversation during which they examined strategies for attracting private sector investments and catalyzing regional economic development from a government perspective. Attendees also included federal small business representatives from the Department of Energy, NIST, NOAA and the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment.

Francesca Covey, chief innovation and economic development officer of Miami-Dade County and executives from America Achieves, STEMconnector and MITRE joined FIU to give a business-oriented perspective outside.

“The Ocean Tech Hub represents an unprecedented level of institutional collaboration with our colleagues from the University of Rhode Island and Brown University. We have much we can learn from each other and from the other Tech Hubs, and I look forward to applying the lessons I learned to our ongoing efforts to support a more competitive, sustainable and resilient ocean technology economy here in Southern New England,” noted Professor Michael Goodman, executive director of economic development and community partnerships at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Graduate and undergraduate students were also present at the event, representing research programs tied to the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub, including FIU, Florida Atlantic University and the University of Miami. They spent the week participating in the ‘Future of Climate Technologies’ Fly-In Seminar.

After the strategy session on Monday morning, the students visited the U.S. Department of Commerce for a roundtable with senior advisor and FIU alumnus William A. Ramos, deputy director Edwina Manyeh and analyst Amanda Kosty. They also traveled to Capitol Hill, where they met with representatives from the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. These meetings enabled the students to learn about the process of creating and facilitating federal initiatives in environmental tech.

“There are so many people that are working to make our communities more resilient and safe, and I believe expanding climate technology is one of the next frontiers. It felt good to be at the center of the action along with federal government officials, senior leaders at universities, venture capitalists and stakeholders to explore how universities can lead the way for commercializing climate technology,” said master's student Jahna Brooks, who participated in the dialogue.

On the final day of the visit, three student teams presented their own policy proposals for creative pathways for universities, industry leaders and small businesses to work together to take these emerging technologies from the lab and into the field.

FIU plays a pivotal role in advancing these initiatives, such as how the Institute of Environment and the College of Engineering and Computing are advancing research on 3D-printed construction for hurricane-resilient buildings, new innovations in autonomous marine robots monitoring water quality in Biscayne Bay and the world’s largest restoration project in the Everglades. This past summer, the university was awarded $10 million from the Department of Commerce to take a leading role in advancing infrastructure technologies for the South Florida ClimateReady Tech Hub.

These strategy-based sessions mark only the first in building a collaborative ecosystem across academia and industry, as FIU continues to lead national efforts in sustaining the economic viability of environmentally resilient technologies.