Governors State University is taking the lead on a project, funded with a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, intended to spur research in new technologies centered on logistics including deployment of drones and electric vehicles.
The University Park school is partnering with the Illinois Innovation Network, a group of 15 university-based hubs around the state, in the advancing smart logistics project.
The Governors State-led grant was one of 44 across the nation announced in the first round of funding in the foundation’s new Regional Innovation Engines initiative. The National Science Foundation is a federal agency that provides grants for research in science and engineering.
The $1 million grant is for two years and is intended to lay the framework for a much larger grant that could advance developments that come from advancing smart logistics research.
Its charge, according to the foundation, is to “build an equitable economic development around advances in transportation logistics” including the deployment of drones and electric vehicles.
Another priority is identifying programs to train or retrain workers to adapt to new technologies, according to the science foundation.
Reggie Greenwood, director of the Supply Chain Innovation Center at Governors State, said advancing smart logistics will take advantage of Illinois’ world-class research capacity, workforce development and training resources to contribute to U.S. economic competitiveness.
The Governors State grant could lay the groundwork for a National Science Foundation program with a grant for up to $160 million over 10 years.
That money could be used to develop a world-class testing facility for technologies that come out of advanced smart logistics, Greenwood said.
The logistics of using electric vehicles, such as trucks and drones, in the movement of goods are among areas that will be studied, he said.
Another area of study will be the movement of trucks around intermodal and distribution centers, with an eye toward increasing the efficiency of movements and also using cleaner vehicles to move shipping containers, Greenwood said.
Self-driving or remotely operated trucks moving short distances around distribution points would also be examined, he said.
Greenwood said “cleaner and smarter” are keywords in all areas of study, as well as diversity and inclusion.
According to the National Science Foundation, the “innovation engines” being funded are not quite engines yet, and the initial money is meant to demonstrate that they can apply for the next level of funding.
The engines, according to the foundation, are meant to create sustainable economic ecosystems through establishing trusted partnership networks across industry, academia, government and nonprofits to foster scientific innovation.
Those networks are, according to the science foundation, meant to include “diverse sectors and organizational types such as small businesses, two-year colleges, and minority-serving institutions.” Governors State is a minority-serving university.
Objectives include educating and training a diverse pool of technicians, researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurs based on regional workforce needs, according to the foundation.
Greenwood said the program will gauge skills of the workforce and identify what training might be needed.
“How do we assess workforce requirements, what sort of training is necessary, and to make sure it has an equity and inclusive impact,” Greenwood said.
mnolan@tribpub.com
