2022 Finalists
Awards of Excellence Finalists
Congratulations to the 2022 UEDA Awards of Excellence Finalists. Leading initiatives from across North America compete in a six-month process, including application, peer review, online presentations, and, ultimately, selection by attendees of the annual UEDA Summit as category leaders. These projects represent the top university-based economic development initiatives in the country, as judged by their peers.
Talent
Talent includes the spectrum of knowledge transfer activities by which universities educate people, developing human capital for the 21st century Knowledge Economy. This category includes life-long learning, both degree and non-degree programs, experiential education and discovery-based learning programs, active alignment of curricula to industry needs, etc.
University of Hawaii Pacific Business Center Program
Developing a Digital Economy in Yap
University of Kansas CATEGORY LEADER
Haskell Environmental Research Studies Institute (HERS)
University of Oklahoma
Innovation
Innovation begins with basic research, but then builds on knowledge creation to encompass knowledge transfer and application in ways that are useful and relevant to society. This category encompasses basic research; applied, translational, problem-oriented, and industry-contracted R&D; cooperative extension services; technology transfer; etc.
efactory – Missouri State University
Supercharge Southwest Missouri (Supercharge SWMO)
Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering CATEGORY LEADER
Joint School’s Institute for Research Technologies
Tech Parks Arizona, University of Arizona Center for Innovation JUDGES’ AWARD
Place
Place is defined as the many and diverse ways in which institutions contribute to making attractive, competitive communities—places where people want to live, create and take jobs, raise their families, participate in civic life, and age and retire. Competitive, successful communities and regions are attentive to the health, education, environment, housing, safety, and entertainment needs of community members. Campuses and sites like research parks are components of place-making, but the focus of this definition is broader, on communities, or even on regions.
BGSU Center for Regional Development
BGSU Reimagining Rural Regions (R3) Initiative
Georgia Southern University
Business Innovation Group- GENIE (Georgia Enterprise Network for Innovation and Entrepreneurship)
University of Hawaii Pacific Business Center Program CATEGORY LEADER
Together We can Go Far: Pacific Farmer Organizations as Drivers of Rural Economic Development
Engaged University
This category recognizes initiatives that demonstrate excellence in linking all three legacy award categories. Projects included successfully engage multiple community partners to link, leverage and connect efforts in Talent, Innovation, and Place.
Tech Parks Arizona, University of Arizona
The Refinery / UA Tech Park at The Bridges
Towson University CATEGORY LEADER
University of Kentucky
UK Economic Development Collaborative
Wichita State University
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
This category recognizes projects that demonstrate excellence in fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in a community. Projects in this category attempt to make their communities more equitable by creating opportunities for historically underserved populations, including but not limited to communities of color, unemployed and underemployed workers, persons with disabilities, individuals impacted by the criminal justice system, veterans and military spouses, and other groups facing labor market barriers.
Florida Atlantic University
The FAU Innovation and Business Development Branch
University of Kansas – Center for Digital Inclusion CATEGORY LEADER
Evidence-based Technology Education for Women Transitioning from Incarceration
University of Kentucky
University Economic Development Association
